INTERGOVERNMENTAL COMMITTEE ON INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AND GENETIC RESOURCES, TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE AND FOLKLORE (IGC)
Background
The IGC is an ad hoc body with a renewable two-year mandate. Since its establishment in 2000, the IGC has worked towards international legal instrument(s) ensuring balanced and effective protection of genetic resources (GRs), traditional knowledge (TK) and traditional cultural expressions (TCEs).
In 2024, the IGC led the adoption of the WIPO Treaty on Intellectual Property, Genetic Resources and Associated Traditional Knowledge (GRATK treaty), which establishes a mandatory disclosure requirement in patent applications concerning the origin or source of genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge. It will enter into force three months after fifteen eligible ratifications or accessions.
Following this outcome, the IGC continues text-based negotiations on international legal instrument(s) for the protection of TK and TCEs, primarily based on documents WIPO/GRTKF/IC/49/4 and WIPO/GRTKF/IC/49/5.
Developing Countries, Like-Minded (African Group, Asia-Pacific Group, GRULAC, Pacific Islands Group) support a legally binding international instrument(s) on TK and TCEs, advocate minimum binding elements applicable to all Parties, call for a diplomatic conference by 2027, emphasize the continued integration of GR issues to support GRATK ratification and implementation, and encourage ratification of the GRATK Treaty to deliver tangible benefits to IPLCs.
Developed countries (Group B, European Union, CEBS Group, United States, Japan, Switzerland, Republic of Korea) prefer further dialogue and evidence-based exchanges, support non-binding, measures-based outcomes with multiple national options, seek to preserve broad policy space and limit normative scope, favor non-normative treatment of GR issues, do not support committing to a timeline for a diplomatic conference.
Next meeting (Fifty-second session)
Date: March 4 to March 13, 2026
Website: https://www.wipo.int/meetings/en/details.jsp?meeting_id=89810
Draft Agenda (WIPO/GRTKF/IC/52/1 PROV.):
- 1. Opening of the Session
- 2. Election of Officers
- 3. Adoption of the Agenda
- 4. Accreditation of Certain Organizations
- 5. Participation of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities
- 6. Genetic Resources
- 7. Traditional Knowledge/Traditional Cultural Expressions
- 8. Any other Business
- 9. Closing of the Session
Key issues to be considered:
Negotiations continue to address, inter alia:
- Misappropriation of TK and TCEs through the IP system and possible responses
- Recognition of rights grounded in customary law of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLCs)
- Scope of beneficiaries, including whether protection should extend beyond IPLCs
- Creation of new (sui generis) or adapted IP protection mechanisms of a collective nature
- Possible disclosure requirements for TK and TCEs in patent applications
- Degree of flexibility and policy space for national implementation versus minimum binding standards
- International recognition, harmonization or mutual recognition to reduce costs of protection
References:
- WIPO Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore, 2026 Provisional Schedule for the IGC (dated September 22, 2025)
- WIPO Document WIPO/GRTKF/IC/52/4: The Protection of Traditional Knowledge: Draft Articles The Protection of Traditional Knowledge: Draft Articles
- WIPO Document WIPO/GRTKF/IC/52/5: The Protection of Traditional Cultural Expressions: Draft Articles The Protection of Traditional Cultural Expressions: Draft Articles
- WIPO Document WIPO/GRTKF/IC/47/Chairs Text
- Decisions of the Forty-Ninth Session of the Committee
- Decisions of the Fiftieth Session of the Committee
- WIPO Treaty on Intellectual Property, Genetic Resources and Associated Traditional Knowledge (GRATK Treaty), adopted 2024
- A Breakthrough in Negotiations on Intellectual Property, Protection of Genetic Resources and Traditional Knowledge in WIPO?, The South Centre | Policy Brief 113, 11 October 2022Understanding the New WIPO Treaty on Intellectual Property, Genetic Resources and Associated Traditional Knowledge, Policy Brief 134, 2024, The South Centre | Policy Brief 131, 3 July 2024
