IRELAND SHARES EU CONCERNS ON WHO SECRETARIAT AND

UNCLAS DUBLIN 001378

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE FOR EB AND IO
STATE PASS TO USTR

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ECON ETRD KIPR WTRO EI
SUBJECT: IRELAND SHARES EU CONCERNS ON WHO SECRETARIAT AND
IP

REF: STATE 187542

Ireland shares the EU Commission/Finnish Presidency view that
the World Health Organization (WHO) Secretariat should not
encroach upon intellectual property (IP) issues outside the
WHO mandate, according to Michael English, Department of
Enterprise, Trade, and Employment (DETE) Intellectual
Property Unit Principal Officer, to whom Pol/Econ Chief
delivered reftel demarche on November 30. English noted that
Commission/Finnish Presidency representatives would
articulate this view at the December 4-8 meeting of the World
Health Organization (WHO) Intergovernmental Working Group on
Public Health, Innovation, and Intellectual Property, in
which Ireland would not take part. He elaborated that EU
representatives would make explicit that the WHO Secretariat
should respect EU Member States' IP obligations in other
contexts, specifically, under the TRIPS Agreement. English
expected, however, that the EU line would not focus as
sharply as the U.S. position on the IP provisions of FTAs.
He added that DETE and the Irish Department of Health and
Children had no disagreement on Irish support for the EU view.
FOLEY