WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/GC/W/249
13 July 1999
(99-2884)
General Council Original:  English
PREPARATIONS FOR THE 1999 MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE
Agreement on TRIPS
Extension of the Additional Protection for Geographical
Indications to Other Products
Communication from Turkey
The following communication, dated 9 July 1999, has been received from the Permanent
Mission of Turkey.
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Introduction
1. Turkey attaches great importance to the full implementation of the WTO Agreement on
Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS).
2. Section 3 (Articles 22-24) of the TRIPS Agreement deals with the matters related to the
protection of geographical indications.
3. In this connection, Turkey believes that the ongoing negotiations within the TRIPS Council
regarding the additional protection for geographical indications, and the multilateral registrationsystem for geographical indications of wines and spirits should also be extended to other products.
4. Turkey views the concept of additional protection for geographical indications as one of the
essential elements of the TRIPS Agreement.  Howeve r, confining this concept narrowly just to wines
and spirits, in our view, would not constitute a fair and equitable treatment of the rights and the
interests of the Members.
5. Turkey also firmly believes that extending the protection scope to other products would play
an important role for the development of local producers and industries concerned.
Proposal
6. Within the framework of the TRIPS Agreement, Turkey along with a number of WTO
Members has indicated its interest in extending the scope of protection of geographical indications to
other products in addition to wines and spirits.
7. In this context, Turkey proposes that the General Council submit a recommendation to the
third Ministerial Conference in this regard.
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