Council for Trade-Related Aspects of
Intellectual Property Rights
WORK PROGRAMME ON ELECTRONIC COMMERCE
REPORT BY THE CHAIRPERSON OF THE COUNCIL FOR TRIPS
TO THE GENERAL COUNCIL
1.1. The Nairobi Ministerial Conference of December 2015 (MC10) took the decision1 to continue
work under the Work Programme on Electronic Commerce (Work Programme), based on the
existing mandate and guidelines and on the basis of proposals submitted by Members in the
relevant WTO bodies. It also instructed the General Council to hold periodic reviews based on the
reports that may be submitted by the WTO bodies entrusted with the implementation of the Work
Programme, and report to the next session of the Ministerial Conference.
1.2. In pursuance of that decision, I informed Members at the TRIPS Council meeting held in
June 2017 of my intention to submit, in my capacity as Chair and on my own responsibility, a
factual record of the discussions in the TRIPS Council to the General Council, so that it can be
taken into account at its stocktaking session in July. This report covers four meetings at which
such discussions had taken place.