WIPO Proposes Internal Audit Committee

According to Intellectual Property Watch on May 26, 2005, a working group at the World Intellectual Property Organisation has recommended a new committee to conduct independent audits of the U.N. body. The working group was designated by the WIPO Program and Budget Committee last month, and the recommendation will go the WIPO General Assembly in the fall.

WIPO has come under greater scrutiny in recent weeks as a U.N. inspection team issued a report critical of WIPO’s budget management, and a senior WIPO official was linked in press reports to a broader U.N. financial accountability investigation. The closed working group meeting was said by government participants during and afterward to be relatively non-controversial, but there were disagreements to be worked out.