2 When protection is sought in several countries for an invention involving a 
microorganism or the use of a microorganism, the complex and costly procedures of 
the deposit of the microorganism might have to be repeated in each of those 
countries. It was in order to eliminate or reduce such multiplication of deposits 
that the United Kingdom proposed, in 1973, that the World Intellectual Property 
Organization (WIPO) should study the possibilities of one deposit serving the 
purposes of all the deposits which would otherwise be needed. The proposal was 
adopted by the Executive Committee of the Paris Union for the Protection of 
Industrial Property (Paris Union) at its 1973 session. Thereafter, the Director 
General of WIPO convened a Committee of Experts, which held three sessions, in 
1974, 1975 and 1976. In the first session of the Committee of Experts, the matter 
was thoroughly discussed and the general outlines of a solution emerged; moreover, 
the Committee of Experts found that the solution required the conclusion of a 
treaty. In its second session, the Committee of Experts examined the first draft, 
prepared by the International Bureau of WIPO. of a Treaty on the International 
Recognition of the Deposit of Microorganisms for the Purposes of Patent Procedure, 
and of Regulations thereunder. In its third session, the Committee of n ^Perts 
examined a second draft of the said Treaty and Regulations, also prepared by the 
International Bureau of WIPO. 
3. The third draft of the sAld Treaty and Regulations was prepared by the 
International Bureau on the basis of the conclusions reached by the Committee 
of Experts at its third session. It was published on October 14, 1976, and 
served as a basis for the deliberations of the Diplomatic Conference which, 
under the title of the ‘Budapest Diplomatic Conference for the conlusion of 
a Treaty on the International Recognition of the Deposit of Microorganisms 
for the Purposes of Patent Procedure," was convened by the Director General 
of WIPO, organized by him in cooperation with the Government of Hungary, and 
held in Budapest from April 14 to 28, 1977. 
4. All States members of the Paris Union were invited to the Budapest Diplomatic 
Conference with the right to vote; the following 29 were represented: Australia, 
Austria, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Egypt, Finland, France, German 
Democratic Republic, Germany (Federal Republic of), Hungary, Indonesia, Italy, 
Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Senegal 
Soviet Union, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States of America, 
Yugoslavia. Several States not members of the Paris Union, which showed an inter- 
est in the preparatory work, were invited to be represented by observers; two of 
them — the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and Pakistan — were so represented. 
The Interim Committee of the European Patent Organisation (EPO) was represented by 
an observer. 
5. Several non-governmental organizations interested in the subject matter of 
the Budapest Diplomatic Conference were Invited as observers and the following 
eleven were represented: Committee of National Institutes of Patent Agents (CNIPA) 
European Federation of Agents of Industry in Industrial Property (FEMIPI) , Council 
of European Industrial Federations (CEIF) , International Association for the Protec 
tion of Industrial Property (AIPPI) , International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) , Inter 
national Federation of Patent Agents (FICPI) , International Federation of Pharma- 
ceutical Manufacturers Associations ( IFPMA) , Pacific Industrial Property Associa- 
tion (PIPA) , Union of European Patent Attorneys and Other Representatives Before 
the European Patent Office (UNEPA) , Union of Industries of the European Community 
(UNICE) , World Federation for Culture Collections (WFCC) . 
6. The Budapest Diplomatic Conference adopted a treaty consisting of 20 Articles 
under the title of the "Budapest Treaty on the International Recognition of the 
Deposit of Microorganisms for the Purposes of Patent Procedure" (hereinafter 
IX- 2 
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