DECISION ON INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, GENETIC
AND BIOLOGICAL RESOURCES, TRADITIONAL
KNOWLEDGE AND FOLKLORE IN AFRICA
Council:
COMMENDS the Secretary General on his initiative and efforts in developing the draft African Model Law on the Protection of the Rights of Local Communities, Farmers and Breeders and for the Regulation of access to Biological Resources, as well as the draft African Model Law on biosafety and an Africa-wide Bio-Safety System;
SUPPORTS the convening of the proposed experts meetings intended to further examine the draft model laws within the framework of the African common positions on intellectual property, generally, and the Trips Agreement in particular; and
URGES MEMBER STATES TO:
Participate effectively in the two on-going processes of developing model laws and to use these models as a basis for finalizing their national legislations by adapting their provisions to the national context and within the framework of the WTO negotiations, whilst maintaining, as much as possible, the principle of uniformity of national laws of integrating African economies;
Examine ways and means of raising awareness about the protection of genetic resources, indigenous knowledge and folklore, taking into account the need to protect the rights of local communities;
Identify, catalogue, record and document the genetic and biological resources and traditional knowledge, including expressing of folklore held by their communities, within the framework of national laws;
Exchange information and experiences and continue, within the framework of the OAU, with the search for joint solutions to problems of common concern, and with the efforts aimed at developing common positions, policies and strategies in relation to these issues.