Opening Statement by Greece during the 51st series of Meetings of WIPO General Assemblies (23/9-2/10/2013)

Assemblies of the Member States of WIPO

51st Series of Meetings

Geneva, September 23rd, 2013

General Statement by Greece

(Agenda item 5)

Mme Chair,

Greece fully aligns itself with the statements made by Belgium on behalf of Group B and by Lithuania on behalf of the European Union and its M-S.

I would like to congratulate you and the two Vice-Chairs on your election and thank the outgoing Chair and Vice-Chairs for all their efforts and work during the past years. I would also like to thank the WIPO Secretariat for it’s continuous commitment and diligence in preparing the numerous documents for these Assemblies.

Our support to the excellent work of WIPO in the pursuance of it’s goals remains indisputable. The recent successful conclusion of the Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works by Visually Impaired Persons and Persons with Print Disabilities is another contribution to the international intellectual property system due to WIPO’s continuous efforts.

Regarding the Development Agenda we attach great importance to the provision of technical assistance and capacity building upon equal and transparent terms. At the same time good governance and best practice would allow for a controlling mechanism that would ensure the appropriate implementation of targeted goals.

The need to provide technical assistance and capacity building should not hinder any efforts to improve the intellectual property system. The draft text of a design law formalities treaty, meticulously elaborated by the Standing Committee on Trademarks, Industrial Designs and Geographical Indications, is mature enough to be submitted to a Diplomatic Conference in 2014.

Though progress has been achieved in the work of the Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore, there remain many outstanding issues to be resolved. Further examination of the elaborated texts is required. For this reason, we support the establishment of a realistic work program for the next two years taking into consideration the cost of meetings.

International harmonization of patent law is strongly supported by Greece. We look forward to the continuation of discussions in the Standing Committee on the Law of Patents on the basis of the agreed work program.

Our support is also extended to the work of the Patent Cooperation Treaty Working Group. Improvement of the PCT system should be a systematic effort to respond to the changing needs of users, third parties and patent Offices worldwide.

Greece has closely followed the last sessions of the Programme and Budget Committee and we express our concerns for the issues that still remain unsolved.

Therefore, we look forward to the discussions of the agenda issues and express our willingness to work towards finding fair and balanced solutions in the spirit of cooperation and to the benefit of all parties involved.

Thank you, Mme Chair.