Article 1
Open ↗1. The Commission is hereby authorised to open negotiations, on behalf of the Union, as regards matters falling within its competence and in respect of which the Union has adopted common rules that may be affected or the scope of which may be altered by the international instrument, for an international legal instrument relating to intellectual property, genetic resources and traditional knowledge associated with genetic resources in the context of the World Intellectual Property Organization. 2. The negotiations shall be conducted on the basis of the negotiating directives of the Council set out in the addendum, which may be revised and further developed as appropriate depending on the evolution of the negotiations. 3. To the extent that the subject matter of the negotiations falls within the competences of both the Union and its Member States, the Commission and the Member States should cooperate closely during the negotiating process, with a view to ensuring unity in the international representation of the Union and its Member States.