Linking national patent offices

This strategy features in the framework of Agenda 21 as formulated at UNCED (Rio de Janeiro, 1992), now coordinated by the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development and implemented through national and local authorities.

Agenda 21 recommends that existing national, subregional, regional and international information systems should be developed and linked through regional clearing-houses covering broad-based sectors of the economy such as agriculture, industry and energy. Such a network might, inter alia, include national, subregional and regional patent offices that are equipped to produce reports on state-of-the-art technology. The clearing-house networks would disseminate information on available technology, its sources environmental risks, and the broad terms under which it might be acquired. They would operate on an information-demand basis and focus on the information needs of the end-users. They would take into account the positive role and contribution of international, regional and subregional organizations, business communities, trade associations, non-governmental organizations, national governments and newly established or strengthened national networks.