Annual report (2015) of the Council for TRIPS

1  general   

1.1.  Since the period covered by its 2014 report^[1], the Council for TRIPS has held three formal meetings, on 24-25 February, 9-10 June and 15-16 October. The minutes of these meetings are to be found in documents IP/C/M/78 and IP/C/M/78/Add.1, IP/C/M/79 and IP/C/M/79/Add.1, and IP/C/M/80 and IP/C/M/80/Add.1.^[2]

1.2.  The meeting in February was chaired by Ambassador Mothusi Palai (Botswana) and the meeting in June by Ambassador Abdolazeez Al-Otaibi (the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia). Since the Chairman was absent from the October meeting, the Council elected Ambassador Alfredo Suescum (Panama) as interim Chair for that meeting. 

1.3.  The meetings of the Council were open to all WTO Members, other governments with observer status in WTO bodies and certain international intergovernmental organizations granted observer status in the Council. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the United Nations (UN), the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the World Bank, the World Customs Organization (WCO) and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) enjoy regular observer status in the TRIPS Council. The World Health Organization (WHO) has ad hoc observer status in the Council. At its meeting in March 2002, the Council agreed to a request from the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) for observer status during the Council's discussions on the TRIPS Agreement and public health at that and future meetings. At its meetings in June 2010 and November 2012, the Council agreed to grant ad hoc observer status on a meeting-by-meeting basis to the African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO), the African Intellectual Property Organization (OAPI), the Cooperation Council of the Arab States of the Gulf (GCC) and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA). Pursuant to this, ARIPO, OAPI, the GCC and EFTA were invited to attend each formal meeting on an ad hoc basis. Decisions on requests for observer status from 13 other organizations are pending.^[3]

2  NOTIFICATIONS under the provisions of the agreement

2.1.  The Council took note of notifications of new or revised legislative measures under various provisions of the TRIPS Agreement. At the Council's meetings, the delegations of Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Colombia, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Montenegro, Panama, the Russian Federation and Chinese Taipei provided further background to the notifications they had filed. To date, 132 Members have notified, pursuant to Article 63.2, all or part of their implementing legislation relating to all provisions of the Agreement. 105 Members have provided responses to the Checklist of Issues on Enforcement. During the reporting period, a number of Members updated their earlier notifications of laws and regulations, and several of them provided explanations of the significance of this new and amended legislation. 138 Members have notified pursuant to Article 69 contact points for the purposes of cooperating with each other with a view to eliminating international trade in goods infringing intellectual property rights. The Council was briefed on the Secretariat's ongoing efforts to streamline arrangements for submitting and managing notifications, and for developing an on-line information service so as to improve the accessibility of this material.

3  REVIEWs OF NATIONAL LAWS AND REGULATIONS

3.1.  At its meeting in February, the Council completed its review of the implementing legislation of the Russian Federation. The Council also followed up the review of Tajikistan and took note of the outstanding material required to complete the pending reviews of two other Members.

4  review of the provisions of article 27.3(b); relationship between the trips agreement and the convention on biological diversity; and protection of traditional knowledge and folklore

4.1.  Following the practice in its past meetings that delegates address these three agenda items together, the Council continued to discuss them together on the basis of contributions by Members. This included the earlier suggestion that the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) be invited to brief the Council on the outcome of the tenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the CBD held in Nagoya, Japan in October 2010, and on the suggestion that the WTO Secretariat be requested to update three factual notes that summarized the points delegations had made in the Council's past discussions on these three agenda items.

5  non-violation and situation complaints

5.1.  At the Council's meeting in February and June, the Council continued its examination of the scope and modalities for non-violation and situation complaints, including on the basis of a communication form the United States entitled "Non-Violation Complaints under the TRIPS Agreement" (IP/C/W/599). At its meeting in June, the Council had before it a communication from Argentina, the Plurinational State of Bolivia, Brazil, China, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Malaysia, Pakistan, Peru, the Russian Federation, Sri Lanka and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, entitled "Non-Violation and Situation Nullification or Impairment under the TRIPS Agreement" (IP/C/W/385/Rev.1). At its meeting in October, the Council had before it a draft Ministerial decision on "Non-Violation and Situation Complaints" submitted by the same Members (IP/C/W/607). Both communications were co-sponsored by the African Group (IP/C/W/385/Rev.1/Add.1 and IP/C/W/607/Add.1) and the LDC Group (IP/C/W/385/Rev.1/Add.2 and IP/C/W/607/Add.2). The Council agreed to keep open this agenda item and to reconvene the meeting once further developments were sufficiently mature, with a view to the Council agreeing on a recommendation to the Ministerial Conference.

6  review of implementation of the trips agreement under article 71

6.1.  No statements were made or documents submitted by delegations under this agenda item.

7  review of the application of the provisions of the section on geographical indications under article 24.2

7.1.  The Chair invited those delegations that had not yet provided responses to the Checklist of Questions (IP/C/13 and Add.1) to do so, and said that those Members that had already provided responses could provide updates to the extent there had been any significant changes to the way they provided protection to geographical indications. In line with the Council's recommendation made in March 2010, he also encouraged Members to share information on bilateral agreements related to the protection of geographical indications into which they had entered. During the reporting period, China and the European Union shared information on bilateral agreements at the Council's meeting in February.

8  review under paragraph 8 of the decision on the implementation of paragraph 6 of the doha DECLARATION on the trips agreement and public health

8.1.   At its meeting in October, the Council took up the annual review, pursuant to paragraph 8 of the Decision, of the functioning of the system set out in the Decision. The Council's report to the General Council on the operation of the system set out in the Decision will be circulated in the IP/C/- series of documents. The Council agreed to forward to the General Council a proposal for a decision to extend the period of acceptance by Members of the Protocol Amending the TRIPS Agreement until 31 December 2017.^[4]

9  IMPLEMENTATION OF ARTICLE 66.2

9.1.  At its meeting in February, the Council followed up its twelfth annual review of developed country Members' reports on their implementation of Article 66.2.

9.2.  At its meeting in October, the Council took up its thirteenth annual review of developed country Members' reports on their implementation of Article 66.2. For this review, the Council received the fifth set of new detailed reports on actions they had taken or planned in pursuance of their commitments under Article 66.2 from the following developed country Members: Japan; New Zealand; Canada; Switzerland; Australia; the United States; Norway; as well as the European Union and individual member States, namely Austria, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Ireland, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. This documentation is being circulated in document IP/C/W/611 and addenda.

10  technical cooperation and capacity‑building

10.1.  At its meeting in February, the Council followed up its annual review of technical cooperation held at its meeting in October 2014.

10.2.  At its meeting in June, the Council invited developed country Members to supply information on their activities pursuant to Article 67 of the TRIPS Agreement prior to the annual review of technical cooperation at its meeting in October. Intergovernmental organizations that have observer status in the TRIPS Council were invited to provide information on their activities of relevance and, further, the WTO Secretariat was requested to report on its activities. In preparation for the annual review it held at its meeting in October, the Council received updated information from the following developed country Members: Japan; New Zealand; Canada; Switzerland; Australia; the United States; Norway; and the European Union and individual member States, namely Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom (being circulated in IP/C/W/610 and addenda). Updated information was also received from the following intergovernmental organizations: the FAO; the GCC; the OECD; the WCO; UNCTAD; the WHO; UPOV; and WIPO (being circulated in IP/C/W/609 and addenda), as well as from the WTO Secretariat (IP/C/W/608).

10.3.  Also at its meeting in June, the Council had a constructive exchange of views on the assistance that might be required by Members that are yet to accept the Protocol Amending the TRIPS Agreement with a view to facilitating the completion of domestic procedures required to enable them to lodge an instrument of acceptance.

11  request for an extension of the transitional period under article 66.1 for least developed country members with respect to pharmaceutical products and for waivers from the obligation of articles 70.8 and 70.9

11.1.  At the Council's meeting in February, Bangladesh, on behalf of the LDC Group, introduced under "Other Business" a "Request for an Extension of the Transitional Period Under Article 66.1 for Least Developed Country Members With Respect to Pharmaceutical Products and for Waivers from the Obligation of Articles 70.8 and 70.9" that had been submitted by the LDC Group on 23 February (IP/C/W/605). At the request of Bangladesh, on behalf of the LDC Group, the Council had its first substantive discussion of that communication at its meeting in June. At its meeting in October, the Council agreed to keep open this agenda item and to reconvene the meeting once further developments were sufficiently mature, with a view to the Council taking a decision. 

12  intellectual property and innovation: women and innovation

12.1.  At the request of the European Union, Japan, Norway, Turkey and the United States, at its February meeting the Council had on its agenda an item on "Intellectual Property and Innovation: Women and Innovation".

13  intellectual property and innovation: the role of intellectual property in financing innovation

13.1.  At the request of Switzerland and the United States, and co-sponsored by the European Union and Singapore, at its June meeting the Council had on its agenda an item on "Intellectual Property and Innovation: The Role of Intellectual Property in Financing Innovation".

14  INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AND INNOVATION: ENTERPRENEURIALISM AND NEW TECHNOLOGIES

14.1.  At the request of Australia, the European Union, Singapore, Chinese Taipei and the United States, at its October meeting the Council had on its agenda an item on "IP and Innovation: Entrepreneurialism and New Technologies".

15  concerns with respect to measures related to plain packaging of tobacco products and their compatibility with the trips agreement

15.1.  At the request of the Dominican Republic, at its February meeting the Council had on its agenda an item on "Concerns with Respect to Proposals for Plain Packaging of Tobacco Products in the United Kingdom and Ireland".

16  observer status for international intergovernmental organizations

16.1.  The Council continued its consideration of the pending requests for observer status from international intergovernmental organizations, and requested the Chair to continue his consultations on the requests from the five IGOs that had recently provided updated information, as well as on the requests from the remaining eight organizations that had not yet updated their information.

17  other business

17.1.  At the Council's meetings in February, June and October, Ecuador informed the Council about the steps it was taking to advance its proposal regarding the issue of the contribution of intellectual property to facilitate the transfer of environmentally sound technology.

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