Bhutan Local Governance

  26th Session of the CDIP

Twenty Sixth Session of the Committee for Development and Intellectual Property 

Bhutan participated in the twenty sixth session of the Committee for Development and Intellectual Property (CDIP) meeting which was held virtually from 26 to 30 July 2021. 

The Agenda of the meeting comprised of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)’s Development agenda programs, discussion and approval of project proposal on using Inventions in the Public Domain, project proposal submitted by El Salvador on the Systematization of Statistical Data and the Design and Implementation of a Methodology for Developing Impact Assessments on the Use of the Intellectual Property System, project proposal by Indonesia and the United Arab Emirates on Promoting the Use of Intellectual Property in Developing Countries in Creative Industries in the Digital Era, project proposal by Brazil on Empowering Small Businesses Through IP: Developing Strategies for Supporting Geographical Indications or Collective Marks in the Post- registry Period, IP and Creative Economy, Women and IP and so on. 

Bhutan communicated its full support for the project proposal submitted by El Salvador on “Systematization of Statistical Data and the Design and Implementation of a Methodology for Developing Impact Assessments on the Use of the Intellectual Property System”, and, furthermore, conveyed our interest to participate as a pilot country as provided in the project document no. CDIP/26/4. However, this is subject to the proposal being approved by the committee and upon fulfillment of the selection criteria considered for choosing beneficiary countries by the CDIP Secretariat. 

                                                                            

In the current scenario, although Bhutan’s IP data on their own are comparatively minor, there is no systematic IP data management that could enable us to use them for any IP related empirical studies. There are also no synergies between the data contained in the IP databases and other relevant national databases which are under the custodianship of respective initiators/creators.  During recent engagements with some local data providers, the Department of Intellectual Property (DoIP) discovered some challenges they face in data administration in the absence of a formal and improved system and they were keen to collaborate with the Department in any initiatives that could improve respective data managements. 

Hence, an appropriate methodology developed through this proposed project as indicated in the project document would be very beneficial for Bhutan. The project would also assist some of our affiliated data custodians in building both human and technical capacity required in this dynamic era of digital technology. It is also timely for the country to inculcate a culture of data systematization, which in turn would aid in data management and reporting/sharing among key agencies and other development partners for multipurpose uses such as for the Global Innovation Index ranking, Ease of Doing Business ranking and also to set a threshold or measure numerous national innovation initiatives, which for us is very vague or non-existent at the moment. 

Bhutan assured full commitment in the project’s implementation and its sustainability, if chosen as one of the pilot beneficiary countries. DoIP will be submitting a request template to the CDIP Secretariat at an appropriate time when notified by the counterparts. The Chief of the Industrial Property Division, DoIP and a Senior Trade Officer from the Regional Office of Economic Affairs, Gelephu attended the virtual meeting along with around 150 participants from the WIPO member states and other regional organizations.