This note describes the concept behind the final conference Declaration, its relation to the sessions of the Congress and how to use the web platform for contributing ideas for the Declaration before and during the event, and for a brief period for final editing following the event.

As we described in the concept note, the different sessions at the Congress are designed to encourage participants to share experiences and insights from their work and discuss what we know about what can be done to promote positive policy initiatives. The sessions will also include deliberations on proposals for consideration in a Washington Declaration on Intellectual Property and the Public Interest.

A provisional outline of the Congress Declaration has been posted online for your review and commentary at http://goo.gl/RbrcH. The PASSWORD for this, and all other password protected sections of the Global Congress website, is pijip2011 (case sensitive). Instructions for using the comment tool are included on the page.

The outline posted at the link noted above includes an introduction to each thematic section of the Declaration and some questions for consideration in its drafting. In general, it is envisioned that each section of the Declaration will have (a) a brief introduction to the issue, framing the potential problems or gaps in the way intellectual property impacts particular public interest concerns, and (b) concrete recommendations for policymakers and stakeholders.

The Friday track chairs (Peter Jaszi, Michael Carroll, Ahmed Abdel Latif, Pedro Mizukami, Sean Flynn and Joe Karaganis) are tasked with guiding the discussions toward a set of concrete recommendations–consensual where possible, but also recognizing and recording differences in views that might arise.  These will form the basis of the draft Declaration. On Saturday afternoon, the track chairs will report back to the larger group and open the meeting to a general Congress. When finalized, the Declaration will be circulated for adoption.

You may post comments at any time before or during the meeting, but those received in advance will be of particular use to the organizers.