ANNUAL REPORT ON NOTIFICATIONS AND OTHER
INFORMATION FLOWS
Note by the secretariat
_______________
Contents
1
Introduction.. 3
2 E-TRIPS. 4
3 TRANSPARENCY MECHANISMS. 5
3.1
NOTIFICATIONS UNDER ARTICLE 63.2. 5
3.1.1
Laws and regulations. 5
3.1.2
Responses to the checklist on enforcement 14
3.2
NOTIFICATIONS OF CONTACT POINTS UNDER ARTICLE 69. 15
3.3
AD HOC NOTIFICATIONS FROM MEMBERS AVAILING THEMSELVES OF CERTAIN OPTIONS UNDER
THE TRIPS AGREEMENT. 17
3.3.1
Articles 1.3 and 3.1. 17
3.3.2
Article 4(d) 17
3.3.3
Other notification requirements under the Berne Convention and the Rome
Convention incorporated by reference into the TRIPS Agreement 17
3.4
TRANSPARENCY REQUIREMENTS FOR MEMBERS MAKING USE OF THE ADDITIONAL
FLEXIBILITIES RELATING TO TRIPS AND PUBLIC HEALTH. 18
3.4.1
Special compulsory licensing system.. 18
3.4.2
TRIPS Decision on COVID-19 Vaccines. 19
3.5
REPORTING REQUIREMENTS FOR DEVELOPED MEMBERS AGREED TO BY THE TRIPS
COUNCIL IN THE CONTEXT OF ARTICLES 66.2 AND 67. 19
3.5.1
Reports under Article 66.2. 19
3.5.2
Reports under Article 67. 22
3.5.3
Contact points for technical cooperation under Article 67. 24
3.6
CERTAIN OTHER INFORMATION FLOWS. 25
3.6.1
Responses provided in the context of the review of the provisions of the
Section on geographical indications under Article 24.2. 25
3.6.2
Responses provided in the context of the review of the provisions of Article
27.3(b) 26
Annex. 28
Table A.1:
Notifications of laws and regulations pursuant to Article 63.2 by Member,
identifying
the most recent (latest) and total count (No.) of notifications received,
1995-2024. 28
Table A.2:
Responses to the checklist on enforcement under Article 63.2. 33
Table A.3:
Contact point submissions under Articles 69 and 67, 35
Table A.4:
Notifications under Articles 1.3 and 3.1. 38
Table A.5:
Notifications under Article 4(d) 39
Table A.6:
Other notifications made pursuant to requirements under the Berne Convention
and the Rome Convention incorporated by reference into the TRIPS Agreement 40
Table A.7:
Notifications by Members making use of the special compulsory licensing system.. 40
Table A.8:
Communications by Members pursuant to paragraph 5 of the TRIPS COVID-19
Vaccines Decision. 40
Table A.9:
Reports submitted by Members under Articles 66.2 and 67. 41
Table A.10:
Responses provided in the context of reviews under Articles 24.2
and 27.3(b), 42
1. The TRIPS Agreement established several
notification requirements to facilitate the TRIPS Council's efforts to
monitor the operation of the Agreement and promote awareness of Members'
policies on intellectual property (IP) protection. The Council subsequently
established reporting requirements for developed Members and invited Members to
respond to checklists of questions in furtherance of the Council's mandated
reviews of certain provisions in the Agreement.[1] Together, these transparency
mechanisms comprise the primary means by which Members keep the Council
apprised of their TRIPS-related laws, regulations, programmes, practices, and
contact points.
2. In 2009, the then-Chair of the
General Council invited WTO Councils and Committees, including the Council for
TRIPS, to consult on ways to improve the timeliness and completeness of
notifications and other information flows on trade measures falling within
their respective areas of responsibility. At the Council's request, the
Secretariat endeavoured to improve the visibility and user-friendliness of the
TRIPS notification system, through an extended process of dialogue with Members
and regular updates to the Council. This process culminated in the 2019 launch
of the e-TRIPS information system (see section 2). With this new online tool,
Members and the public gained on demand access to extensive data on Members'
TRIPS-related notifications, reports, and information relating to reviews,
dating back to 1995. It also streamlines and simplifies the means for Members
to check on the status of their own notifications and reports, and to update
and add to them as necessary.
3. As with the first four notes in
this series, this fifth annual note capitalizes upon the information available
through e-TRIPS to present and summarize submission rates and identify trends
since 1995 for each of the primary TRIPS transparency mechanisms, with a
particular focus on the prior year's submissions.[2]
It shows that Members exerted significant efforts to submit initial
notifications of laws, regulations and contact points, as well as information
regarding domestic practices relating to intellectual property enforcement and
systems of protection for geographical indications (GIs), biotechnology
inventions and plant varieties.
4. Although Member participation and
the number of notifications submitted annually have increased in recent years, not
all Members have kept up with their continuing notification obligations or
maintained their contributions to the Council's monitoring function by
providing updates to initial submissions. For example, despite evidence of
substantial domestic legislative activity in the intellectual property arena
over the past 15 years, 21% of developed and 37% of developing Members have not
notified the Council of any new or amended laws or regulations since 2009. Regarding
submitted contact points, 63% of contact points on IP enforcement and 75% of
contact points on technical and financial cooperation have not been updated in
over a decade, and over half of Members' submissions of information in relation
to TRIPS-mandated reviews date back to the 1990s. The wealth of
information that Members laboured to provide at the turn of the century now
risks becoming outdated. With respect to developed Members' annual reporting
obligations, the number of reports received in any given year under each
mechanism has fluctuated, with few discernible trends. In recent years, the
number of developed Members submitting reports in any given year seems to have
stabilized between 13 to 16.
5. In 2024, Members
submitted a total of 125 notifications, including 116 notifications of laws and
regulations under Article 63.2. Members largely sustained the higher rate
of participation observed in 2022 and 2023, with 26 Members (16% of all 166 WTO
Members at the end of 2024) having notified at least one IP law or regulation
in 2024. Belize updated its initial responses to the checklist on enforcement for
the first time since 2000. Seven Members notified contact points for
cooperation on IP enforcement, and the European Union updated its contact point
for technical and financial cooperation.
6. 16 developed
Members submitted reports on incentives for technology transfer to LDCs under
Article 66.2. 15 developed Members and 6 intergovernmental organizations (IGOs)
submitted reports on technical and financial cooperation in favour of
developing and LDC Members under Article 67.[3]
This represents roughly the same rate as in 2023.
7. No notifications
were received under the special compulsory licensing system in 2024, and no
communications were received pursuant to paragraph 5 of the Ministerial
Decision on the TRIPS Agreement adopted at the 12th Ministerial Conference. No Members
shared new or updated information regarding their domestic framework for
protecting biotechnology inventions and new plant varieties pursuant to the
review of the provisions of Article 27.3(b), or new or updated information in
the context of the Council's review under Article 24.2 of TRIPS provisions on
geographical indications (GIs).
8. The present
report reflects the accession of Comoros and Timor-Leste to the WTO on 21 and
30 August 2024, respectively, bringing the total number of WTO Members to 166.
This development has had a minor impact on the statistics.
[2] Resources
permitting, this note will continue to be updated annually.
[3] Counting
reports of the European Union individually, and each distinct identifiable
contribution by an EU member State to an EU report individually; technical or
financial contributions by individual EU member States to EU-wide programmes
are not separately identified.