On Wednesday, 26 September 2018, during discussions of the WIPO broadcasting treaty, Argentina presented the following roadmap to finalize preparations for the convening of a Diplomatic Conference to conclude a Treaty for the Protection of Broadcasting Organizations. The President of the 58th WIPO General Assembly, Ambassador Duong Chi Dung (Viet Nam), appointed Daren Tang (Singapore) as facilitator of an informal process (meeting at 18:30 on Wednesday, 26 September 2018) to hammer out a path forward. It remains to be seen if the 2018 WIPO General Assembly will accept the Argentine proposal by consensus.
In light of paragraph 29, ii) document WO/GA/50/30, the following work-plan for completing the work on the broadcasting treaty is proposed for adoption of the General Assembly.
– SCCR/37 to finalize the outstanding key issue(s) and to deliver a full draft for a Basic Proposal for consideration at the SCCR/38 meeting. With this aim, the necessary arrangements should be made in order to devote enough time to broadasting in the SCCR/37;
– SCCR/38 to note the progress made, and, if key issues remain outstanding at the end of SCCR/38, to schedule a further session before the GA 2019, dedicated exclusively to finalizing the Basic Proposal;
– SCCR/38 to propose a preliminary date and venue for the Diplomatic Conference to take place approximately six months after the SCCR/38 or the latest scheduled session, as the case may be;
– The GA 2019 to confirm the proposed date and venue of the Diplomatic Conference.