Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore

The Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore (IGC, or IGC-GRTKF) is in charge of negotiating one or several international legal instruments (treaty) to protect traditional knowledge, traditional cultural expressions, and genetic resources in relation with intellectual property, thus bridging existing gaps in international law. The IGC is convened in Geneva by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), and has been meeting regularly since 2001.

Based on part of IGC's work, the WIPO GRATK Treaty on patents, genetic resources, and associated traditional knowledge was adopted in May 2024.

Work
The IGC convenes an Indigenous panel at every meeting, and has created the WIPO Voluntary Fund for Member States to fund the active participation and involvement of indigenous communities and civil society stakeholders.

A number of documents have been issued to guide the works of the IGC, including a series of Background brief documents, as well as guidelines and other information documents.

The IGC has also developed draft international legal instruments on traditional knowledge, traditional cultural expressions, and genetic resources.

According to the United States Patent and Trademark Office,"Since 2009, the WIPO IGC has been engaged in separate text-based negotiations on (1) an international legal instrument for the protection of genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge and (2) an international legal instrument for traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions."

History and mandate
The IGC was established in 2001 by the General Assembly of WIPO, which reviews, updates, and extends the mandate of the IGC every 2 years at the Assembly's September meetings.

The IGC had a first diplomatic crisis in 2003, as "the enormity of its task was becoming clearer, as was the gulf in expectations among states as to the IGC's overall purpose and anticipated outcomes." The crisis lasted until 2009, when WIPO Assembly "agreed on a much-strengthened mandate" for the IGC, asking it to draft a legal instrument towards the convening of a Diplomatic Conference to adopt one or several treaties.

Since 2010, the mandate of the IGC has remained mostly unchanged: to conclude a consensual text which would bridge the gaps between the numerous existing international legal instruments provide some, but insufficient protection on either traditional knowledge, traditional cultural expressions, or genetic resources (UNDRIP, Convention on Biological Diversity, Nagoya Protocol, FAO plant treaty, UNESCO conventions on culture and intangible heritage, etc.), none of which include explicit protections for indigenous peoples and local communities.

IGC's negotiations were suspended in 2020 because of the pandemic of Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, resuming in 2022. That same year, the IGC agreed to move on to the next steps of treaty negotiation, and WIPO agreed to convene a Diplomatic Conference by 2024 to consider a draft treaty that the Committee had been working on.

Proposed Treaty on Intellectual Property, Genetic Resources and Associated Traditional Knowledge
As explained on the website of the Diplomatic Conference:"On July 21, 2022, the WIPO General Assembly decided to convene a Diplomatic Conference to conclude an International Legal Instrument Relating to Intellectual Property, Genetic Resources and Traditional Knowledge Associated with Genetic Resources no later than 2024."Ahead of the Diplomatic Conference, two extraordinary meetings were convened to prepare the Conference. A Special Session of the IGC (4–8 September 2023) and a Preparatory Committee of the Diplomatic Conference (11–13 September, and 13 December 2023).

2022: Selection on the draft text
The selection of the draft text that had to serve as a basis for the negotiations of the final text of the treaty received some criticism from civil society observers. The 2022 WIPO General Assembly decided that a short version of the draft (the "Chair's text") which had been drafted by Australian ambassador Ian Gross, Chair of the IGC in 2019, would be the basis for the treaty's negotiations. Prior to that decision, the text which was expected to be used as basis for the negotiations was the "Consolidated text", a more comprehensive document on which IGC Member States had been working on by consensus during years.

Contrary to the Consolidated text which addressed traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions as such, and different forms of intellectual property, the Chair's text focused only on genetic resources and the patent system.

In August 2023, India submitted a proposal with a series of amendments to the Chair’s text, aiming to add back some elements from the Consolidated text in the discussion.

2023: IGC Special Session and Preparatory Committee
The Special Session which took place from 4 to 8 September 2023, reviewed part of the Chair's text containing substantive articles. The Preparatory Committee which was held the week after, addressed administrative and procedural parts of the draft. Jointly, these two meetings yielded a revised draft, which serves as the basis for the 2024 Diplomatic Conference discussions.

The Preparatory Committee also adopted Draft Rules of Procedure for the Diplomatic Conference, as well as a List of Invitees. On 13 September 2023, the committee had to suspend its session due to the absence of submission by Member States of proposals to host the Diplomatic Conference. On 13 December, the committee reconvened to adopt a decision to hold the Diplomatic Conference at WIPO's headquarters in Geneva, facing the lack of alternative proposals.

2024: Diplomatic Conference
The Diplomatic Conference was convened in Geneva, Switzerland, between 13 and 24 May 2024. During the Conference, the draft resulting from the Special Session and Preparatory Committee was discussed and amended. The final legal instrument, the WIPO Treaty on Intellectual Property, Genetic Resources and Associated Traditional Knowledge (often referred to by its acronym "GRATK" ) was adopted in the night of Thursday 23 to Friday 24 May 2024, and opened for signature the 24 May in the afternoon, at the WIPO headquarter in Geneva."This is the first WIPO Treaty to address the interface between intellectual property, genetic resources and traditional knowledge and the first WIPO Treaty to include provisions specifically for Indigenous Peoples as well as local communities. The Treaty, once it enters into force with 15 contracting parties, will establish in international law a new disclosure requirement for patent applicants whose inventions are based on genetic resources and/or associated traditional knowledge."

Future work
The IGC is expected to develop a distinct legal instrument relating to Traditional Knowledge and Traditional Cultural Expressions (folklore) after the adoption of the GRATK Treaty in 2024.

The GRATK Treaty itself includes a provision for its extension to other areas of intellectual property, beyond patents, no later that 2028.