TNAG-1927-FCO40-2744-Future-of-Hong-Kong-Sino-British-Joint-Liaison-Group-sub-gro-1989 — Page 226

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developing countries. The Group B meeting was, however, very useful in that it was made very clear to the US that there was no support for the US suggestion to aim for higher levels of protection to be put into the draft Treaty now, and thereby be seen to give concessions in Washington. US was also taken aback by the support for inclusion of a non-voluntary licensing provision. A number of states reported that they already had provisions for non-voluntary licences in their national laws and others, who didn't, accepted that limited provisions for say defence and public interest would be necessary if we were going to get developing country participation. The outcome of all this was that the US subsequently laid on the table a proposal on non-voluntary licensing, the proposal obviously being the result of long and careful thought. From a private conversation earlier in the week, it was evident that the US had hoped not to have to show their hand until Washington.

8. The possibility of a forced Article 116 (EC) co-ordination on non-voluntary licensing was averted when France openly accepted that the Treaty would have to go beyond its own national law of allowing non-voluntary licences only in respect of governmental use for defence purposes. France had not wanted to give concessions to developing countries too early for fear that they would be pushed into conceding even more in Washington. Other Community states explained in the Group B meeting what if any provisions for non-voluntary licensing were contained in their national laws. The UK could now (and did) make references to its new Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, notwithstanding that Royal Assent was a a few days away.

As far as discussion of the draft Treaty itself was concerned, little progress was achieved. Few, if any,

9.

AS

of the alternative formulations for the various Articles were eliminated and a number of further suggestions were made. The Director General said that a fresh draft would be produced for the Diplomatic Conference and that it would contain all the alternatives which had been supported. expected, there was little common ground between developed and developing countries. Argentina and India took it in turns to lead for Group 77 and the rest fell in behind. There was, however, some evidence that both Ghana and Tanzania were becoming increasingly irritated by the South Americans and were prepared to adopt a more positive approach to the Treaty. A good deal of interest in the US proposal on non-voluntary licensing was generated in both sides of the camp with Ghana helpfully suggesting that all non-voluntary licences should be subject to judicial review. There was also a good deal of support in Group 77 for India's proposal that non-voluntary licences should be available for non-working. Full details of the discussion on the Treaty are contained in the draft Report (IPIC/CE/IV/15).