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TWN Info Service
on Intellectual Property Issues (Jul26/01) WIPO: Disproportionate share of leadership positions for developed countries (2026-32) 6 July, Geneva (TWN) – Developed countries have secured disproportionate representation in the new leadership positions under the second term of the Director-General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Mr. Daren Tang. WIPO unveiled the new leadership on 2 July consisting of four Deputy Directors-General (DDGs) and four Assistant Directors-General (ADGs) for the period 2026–2032. The newly appointed DDGs and ADGs will assume their offices on 1 October after the completion of the current incumbents’ term on 30 September. The proposed DDGs and their portfolios are: · Mr. Shen Changyu (China): Brands and Design Sector · Mr. Pascal Faure (France): Copyright, Creative Economy and IP Governance Sector · Ms. Laura Peter (United States of America): Patents and Technology Sector · Mr. Mzukisi Qobo (South Africa): Regional and National Development Sector. Newly appointed ADGs and their portfolios are: · Ms. Chitra Narayanaswamy (Switzerland): Corporate Management and Transformation Sector · Mr. Andrew Staines (United Kingdom): Global Challenges, Opportunities and Partnerships Sector · Mr. Kenichiro Natsume (Japan): Infrastructure and Platforms Sector · Mr. Marco Aleman (Colombia): IP and Innovation Ecosystems Sector. The outgoing DDGs and ADGs are Sylvie Forbin (France), Lisa Jorgenson (USA), Hasan Kleib (Indonesia), Wang Binying (China), Marco Aleman (Colombia), Edward Kwakwa (Ghana), Kenichiro Natsume (Japan) and Andrew Staines (UK). In the incoming DDGs group, Shen Changyu (China) succeeds Wang in the Brands and Designs Sector; Pascal Faure (France) succeeds Forbin in the Copyright, Creative Economy and IP Governance Sector; Laura Peter (USA) succeeds Jorgenson in the Patents and Technology Sector; and Mzukisi Qobo (South Africa) replaces Kleib in the Regional and National Development Sector. At ADGs level, Chitra Narayanaswamy (Switzerland) takes the Corporate Management and Transformation Sector from Staines, who moves to the Global Challenges, Opportunities and Partnerships Sector, the post held by Kwakwa. Natsume and Aleman exchange between the Infrastructure and Platforms Sector and the IP and Innovation Ecosystems Sector. The Centre on Knowledge Governance notes that while WIPO appoints these officials on individual competence rather than regional quotas, the Director-General is required to maintain an equitable geographic and gender balance in such selection. Measured against that requirement, the appointments are difficult to defend. Among the new leadership positions Group B, a group of developed countries, will hold five of the eight senior posts, up from four; Europe alone takes three; the Asia-Pacific Group loses its only seat. Similarly, there is no representation from two regional groups viz. Group of Central Asian, Caucasus and Eastern European Countries (CACEEC) and Central European and Baltic States Group (CEBS). Similarly, the gender representation also came down from three to two women. The Group of Latin American and Caribbean Countries (GRULAC) holds steady at one post. The Asia-Pacific Group is unrepresented among the eight, since China and Japan, even though Asian, are not members of that regional group. Africa moves from an outgoing ADG post (Ghana) to a DDG post (South Africa); a very nominal elevation. Neither the outgoing nor the incoming slate includes a national of a least developed country (LDC), a category whose interests in the transition periods and technical assistance debates are distinct from those of developing countries generally. The distribution of portfolios matters more than the headcount. The two sectors in which substantive standard-setting is concentrated, i.e. Patents and Technology, which services the Standing Committee on Patents (SCP), and Copyright, Creative Economy and IP Governance, which services the Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR), remain with the USA and France respectively, as they were in the outgoing term. The one sector entrusted to an African appointee is Regional and National Development: the familiar pattern by which developing-country presence is channeled into the development-cooperation silo while the norm-setting sectors stay with the principal demandeurs of ever higher protection standards. Africa's gain at DDG level is offset at the ADG level, where the Global Challenges, Opportunities and Partnerships portfolio passes from Ghana to the UK. The stakes are concrete. The coming term covers follow-up to the WIPO Treaty on Intellectual Property, Genetic Resources and Associated Traditional Knowledge (2024), the continuing work of the Intergovernmental Committee on Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Traditional Cultural Expressions, the patents-and-development discussions in the SCP, and the mainstreaming of the WIPO Development Agenda's 45 recommendations (2007) across the Secretariat. On each portfolio, the Secretariat's framing power is considerable. The apprehension among observers is that a leadership drawn predominantly from Group B will exercise that power to push agendas of their interest at the cost of developing countries’ interests on IP and development such as the Intergovernmental Committee on Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Traditional Cultural Expressions, the patents-and-public health discussions in the SCP, legally binding instruments on the limitations and exceptions in the Standing Committee on Copyrights, and the mainstreaming of the Development Agenda's 45 recommendations (2007) The WIPO Coordination Committee is invited to approve the appointments of DDGs. However, the Coordination Committee is expected to provide only advice regarding the appointments of ADGs. The WIPO Coordination meeting will take place during the 68th session of WIPO Assemblies on 7 to 15 July at the WIPO Headquarters in Geneva.+
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