PAIPO & Agenda 2063

The operationalization of the Pan-African IP Organisation (PAIPO) is progressing slowly but surely within the unfolding of the AU's Agenda 2063. For details of this progress, see  the Paipo Watch where I  have been tracking PAIPO for the last few years. Much like bird watching in real life, this is a task that requires patience as (sometimes swift and not easily spotted) movement occurs once in while. Since I last blogged about PAIPO on Afro-IP in February 2015 (IP Policies in Africa no. 51 Tunisia)  several developments have occurred. The AU's Agenda 2063 has gained much impetus through the publication of the  First Ten-Year Implementation Plan 2014-2023 - (September 2015).The First Ten-Year Implementation Plan provides additional details to the broad plans for implementing PAIPO which were first stated in 2014 in the AU's Science, Technology and Innovation Strategy for Africa 2024 (see pp 36 and 39).

 This plan provides for the following steps for the implementation of PAIPO (at p66): 

1.  the  PAIPO Draft statute would be reviewed by the Specialized Technical Committee on Justice and Legal Affairs and  thereafter be approved by the Summit in 2016;
2.  consultations with Tunisia (Host Country) would be undertaken in 2017;
3. the adoption of the Implementation Action Plan by the Assembly   ought to be achieved in 2017;
4.  PAIPO would then commence its activities  in 2018; and
5.  should be fully functional by 2023.

The Specialized Technical Committee on Justice and Legal Affairs met in November 2015 but no information on the outcome of its deliberations, if any, on the draft statute have been published. The 26th AU Summit (the 26th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the AU) was held on 30 -31 January 2016 but its decisions and declarations are yet to be published on the AU website. However, a media briefing by South Africa’s International Relations and Cooperation Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane on the outcomes of the Summit stated that member states, the AU Commission and regional economic communities were urged to continue to seek domestic and regional compliance with the first Ten-Year Implementation Plan. In relation to PAIPO this entails the finalization of the organisation's implementation plan in pursuit of its planned adoption in 2017 and the commencement of PAIPO activities in 2018. If everything proceeds as planned the organisation should be fully fledged in 2023. 

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For earlier PAIPO coverage on Afro-IP see

• PAIPO: ARIPO AND OAPI SPEAK – Tuesday, 15 April 2014
• RSA: Draft National IP Policy conference to be held in November & SA supports PAIPO - Monday, 18 November 2013
• PAIPO Phoenix – 4 February 2013
• PAIPO is dead! Long live PAIPO – 29 January 2013
• Piping up on PAIPO – 16 October 2012