ANNUAL
REPORT (2016) OF THE COUNCIL FOR TRIPS
1 GENERAL
1.1. Since the period covered by its 2015 report[1],
the Council for TRIPS has held three formal meetings, on 1 March, 7‑8 June
and 8‑9 November. The minutes of these meetings are to be found in
documents IP/C/M/81 and IP/C/M/81/Add.1, IP/C/M/82 and IP/C/M/82/Add.1, and
IP/C/M/83 and IP/C/M/83/Add.1.[2]
1.2. The meeting in
March was chaired by Ambassador Abdolazeez Al‑Otaibi (the Kingdom of Saudi
Arabia), and the meetings in June and November by Ambassador Modest Jonathan
Mero (United Republic of Tanzania).
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 Canada; Ecuador; the European Union; Hong Kong,
China; Japan; Mexico; Moldova; the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia; and
Chinese Taipei provided further background to their notifications. To date, 134
Members have notified, pursuant to Article 63.2, all or part of their
implementing legislation relating to all provisions of the Agreement. 107
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. 139 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. At each meeting, the Council was updated
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 March, the Council completed its review of the
implementing legislation of Tajikistan and Fiji. The Council also took note of
the outstanding material required to complete the pending review of Saint Kitts
and Nevis, and of the notifications of its main laws prior to the meeting in
November. Furthermore, the Council agreed on the arrangements for the review of
the national implementing legislation of the Republic of Seychelles and
Kazakhstan at its meeting in June.
3.2. At its meeting in November, the delegations of the European Union
and the United States, as well as Canada, Japan, New Zealand and Chinese Taipei
provided information on their respective domestic legislation to protect trade
secrets.
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 at each meeting on the basis of contributions by Members, including as
regards the patentability of life forms and the introduction of a mandatory
disclosure requirement in the TRIPS Agreement. This discussion also covered 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 each of its three meetings, the Council continued its examination
of the scope and modalities for non‑violation and situation complaints,
including by reference to communications submitted in the previous year (United
States ‑ "Non‑Violation Complaints under the TRIPS Agreement"
(IP/C/W/599); 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, African Group and LDC Group ‑ "Non‑Violation and
Situation Nullification or Impairment under the TRIPS Agreement" (IP/C/W/385/Rev.1
and addenda) and draft Ministerial decision on "Non‑Violation and Situation
Complaints" (IP/C/W/607 and addenda)).
6 REVIEW OF IMPLEMENTATION OF THE TRIPS
AGREEMENT UNDER ARTICLE 71
6.1. At the Council's meeting in June and November, the Chair recalled
that the Council was required under Article 71 of the TRIPS Agreement to
review the Agreement, having regard to the experience gained in the
implementation, and that it had not discharged this obligation. He encouraged
delegations to consider how to take forward this mandated review.
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 IP/C/13/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.
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 each Council meeting, the Chair updated delegations on the status
of acceptances of the Protocol Amending the TRIPS Agreement and encouraged
Members that were yet to notify their acceptance to ensure that necessary
measures were being taken at domestic level in order to proceed in a timely
fashion.
8.2. At its meeting in November, 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.
9 IMPLEMENTATION OF ARTICLE 66.2
9.1. At its meeting in March, the Council followed up its thirteenth
annual review of developed country Members' reports on their implementation of
Article 66.2.
9.2. At its meeting in November, the Council took up its fourteenth
annual review of developed country Members' reports on their implementation of
Article 66.2. For this review, the Council reviewed the updates to 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, Australia, Switzerland, Norway, Canada, the United
States, New Zealand and the European Union and individual member States, namely Austria, Denmark, Finland,
France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. This documentation is being circulated in document IP/C/W/616 and
addenda.
10 TECHNICAL COOPERATION AND CAPACITY‑BUILDING
10.1. At its meeting in March, the Council followed up its annual review
of technical cooperation held at its meeting in October 2015.
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 November. 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 November,
the Council received updated information from the following developed country
Members: Japan, Australia, Switzerland, Norway, Canada, the United States, New
Zealand and the European Union and individual member States, namely Austria, Croatia, Czech Republic,
Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Latvia, Portugal, Romania, Spain,
Sweden and the United Kingdom (being circulated in
IP/C/W/617 and addenda). In addition, information was submitted by Mexico
(circulated in IP/C/W/615). Updated information was also received from the FAO,
UNCTAD, the OECD, the GCC, WHO, ARIPO, WCO, WIPO and UPOV (being circulated in
IP/C/W/614 and addenda), as well as from the WTO Secretariat (IP/C/W/618).
11 INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AND INNOVATION:
EDUCATION AND DIFFUSION
11.1. At the request of the Australia, the European Union, Switzerland and
the United States, at its March meeting the Council had on its agenda an item
on "Intellectual Property and Innovation: Education and Diffusion".
12 INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AND INNOVATION:
SUSTAINABLE RESOURCE AND LOW EMISSION TECHNOLOGY STRATEGIES
12.1. At the request of the European Union, Japan, Switzerland and the
United States, and co‑sponsored by Canada, Singapore and Chinese Taipei, at its
June meeting the Council had on its agenda an item on "Intellectual
Property and Innovation: Sustainable Resource and Low Emission Technology
Strategies".
13 WORK PROGRAMME ON ELECTRONIC COMMERCE
13.1. At the request of Canada, the Council had on its agenda an item on
the "Work Programme on Electronic Commerce" at its meeting in June. It
had before it a communication on the "Work Programme on Electronic
Commerce" submitted by Canada (IP/C/W/613).
14 INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AND INNOVATION:
REGIONAL INNOVATION MODELS
14.1. At the request of Australia, the European Union, Japan, Switzerland,
Chinese Taipei and the United States, at its November meeting the Council had on
its agenda an item on "Intellectual Property and Innovation: Regional
Innovation Models".
15 THE UNITED NATIONS SECRETARY‑GENERAL'S
HIGH LEVEL PANEL REPORT ON ACCESS TO MEDICINES
15.1. At the request of Brazil, China, India and South Africa, at its
November meeting the Council had on its agenda an item on "The United
Nations Secretary‑General's High Level Panel Report on Access to Medicines".
16 INFORMATION ON RELEVANT DEVELOPMENTS
ELSEWHERE IN THE WTO
16.1. At the Council's meetings in June and November, the WTO Secretariat
provided an overview of the trade‑related measures and experiences in the field
of intellectual property rights as covered in WTO Trade Policy Reviews.
17 OBSERVER STATUS FOR INTERNATIONAL INTERGOVERNMENTAL
ORGANIZATIONS
17.1. 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 these requests.
18 OTHER BUSINESS
18.1. At the Council's meetings in February and June, 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.
18.2. At the Council's meeting in November, Canada submitted an addendum
to its earlier communication on the "Work Programme on Electronic
Commerce" (IP/C/W/613/Add.1) and shared information with other Members on
how it intended to approach the issue.
__________
[1] Document IP/C/71 and addenda.
[2] Documents IP/C/M/83 and IP/C/M/83/Add.1 to be circulated.
[3] The organizations in question are listed in document
IP/C/W/52/Rev.13.