A/70/279 107. WTO members should ensure the exemption of least developed countries from complying with the TRIPS Agreement provisions until they reach a stage of development where they no longer qualify as least developed countries. D. Adopting policies fostering the right to science and culture, including the right to scientific freedom 108. States and other stakeholders should explore, especially in the area of health and food security, systems that delink the costs of research and development from the price of products, in particular medicines. 109. Where scientific and technological research is subsidized by Governments, intergovernmental organizations or charitable entities, particular care must be taken within the funding structures and processes to ensure that the resulting technologies are made widely accessible. 110. States should invest in science, ensure independence for researchers, guarantee their freedom to publish results and their ability to continue to undertake research, to improve existing technologies and processes, and to be innovators in their own context for their survival needs, regardless of patents. Plant variety rules should not impede the right of small farmers to continue to use, save, exchange and sell farm-saved seeds and to continue to engage in experimentation, especially in situ. 111. Universities and other public research institutions play an important role. They should ensure that their licencing approaches are compatible with their primary mission to explore and develop technological innovations for the benefit of society. This role of universities and other public research institutions should be respected and protected. 112. States should do more to distinguish between generic medications and counterfeit medications. States through which generic medications transit have a responsibility to treat the generics in accordance with the law of the destination country. 113. As suggested by the Global Commission on HIV and the Law, the United Nations should convene a neutral, high-level body to review and assess proposals and recommend a new intellectual property regime for pharmaceutical products that is consistent with international human rights law and public health requirements, and simultaneously safeguards the justifiable rights of inventors. E. Indigenous peoples and local communities 114. States should (1) ensure availability of legal measures and remedies to ensure the control by indigenous peoples and local communities over their biocultural heritage; (2) prohibit unethical and/or unlawful appropriation of the heritage of indigenous peoples and local communities through patents; (3) ensure appropriate credit and compensation; and (4) ensure that traditional knowledge associated with genetic resources that is held by indigenous and local communities is accessed with the free, prior and informed consent or 24/26 15-12543