Notes on Article 1
30. Article 1, which provides that the Contracting Parties shall constitute a Union, is a new provision.
31.
In previous versions of the draft Treaty an Assembly of the Contracting Parties was envisaged, but no provision was made for the constitution of a Union. Various proposals made during the fourth session of the Committee of Experts, which are reflected in the present text of the draft Treaty, would, however, have the effect of increasing the tasks of the Assembly. These proposals relate to the possibility of the Assembly asking WIPO to grant financial assistance to facilitate the participation of delegations of Contracting Parties that are developing countries (Article 9(1)(d)), the possibility of the provision of technical assistance, on request, by the International Bureau of WIPO to Governments of Contracting Parties that are developing countries (Article 10(1)) (which technical assistance would be carried out under the direction of the Assembly) and the possible inclusion of a dispute-settlement mechanism (Article 13bis), which would require the participation of the Assembly in various procedures, such as the selection of panel members and the consideration of panel reports. These new proposals now seem to make it desirable to provide in the draft Treaty for a constitutional structure consisting of a Union, in conformity with the usual practice in treaties administered by WIPO.