At its 2016, 2017 and 2018 Meetings, the Council on General Affairs and Policy of the Conference (CGAP) directed the Permanent Bureau (PB) of the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH) to assist the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in developing a Guide for Judges addressing the intersection between private international law and intellectual property law (draft Guide). [See “Conclusions and Recommendations of the Council on General Affairs and Policy of the Conference (15-17 March 2016)”, C&R No 24; “Conclusions and Recommendations of the Council on General Affairs and Policy of the Conference (14-16 March 2017)”, C&R Nos 18 and 19; “Conclusions and Recommendations of the Council on General Affairs and Policy of the Conference (13-15 March 2018)”, C&R No 17, available on the HCCH website at
< www.hcch.net > under “Governance” then “Council on General Affairs and Policy”].
The purpose of this document is to inform CGAP of the progress and current status of this joint project and to seek final approval of the Guide.
Further to the CGAP mandate in March 2017, the PB circulated this revised draft at the end of 2017 for comments. Given the nature of the comments and the amount of time necessary to process them, the PB concluded that it was not in a position to submit a final draft for approval at the CGAP meeting in March 2018 and requested that CGAP give direction regarding the next steps. At that meeting, CGAP mandated the PB to complete the revised Guide, and to submit the Guide for approval at its March 2019 Meeting.
