Council for Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights - Report on the implementation of article 66.2 of the TRIPS Agreement - Australia

REPORT ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF ARTICLE 66.2

OF THE TRIPS AGREEMENT

 Australia

The following communication, dated 10 October 2025, from the delegation of Australia, is being circulated pursuant to paragraph 1 of the Decision on Implementation of Article 66.2 of the TRIPS Agreement (document _IP/C/28).

 

 

_______________

 

 

1  Introduction

1.  This report in respect of Article 66.2 builds upon annual reports provided since 2012 which are available on the WTO e-TRIPS Gateway. The report focuses on incentives for the purpose of promoting and encouraging technology transfer to least-developed countries (LDCs). 

2.  In this report, technology transfer is taken to include training, education and the dissemination of knowledge, as well as the intellectual property embedded in transferred goods and services and the dissemination of business information and know-how on which a product, process or service is based. 

3.  This report focuses on Australia's efforts to help LDCs create the conditions to encouraging technology transfer. Technical cooperation in favour of least developed and developing countries to facilitate the TRIPS Agreement's implementation is another discrete obligation, on which Australia reports separately.

4.  In Australia, many incentives for technology transfer take the form of official development assistance (ODA). 

5.  Enterprises and institutions eligible for funding to deliver projects and activities to facilitate technology transfer include government agencies and public institutions, non-government organisations, independent consultants and experts and universities and research organisations. 

6.  Australian aid has been untied since 2006, allowing non-Australian organisations to bid for contracts to supply goods and services under bilateral and multilateral development assistance programmes. Untied aid helps ensure activities represent value for money, are cost-effective and attract the best-available global expertise, thereby achieving the best development results including for LDCs. Consistent with this, Australia's aid-funded incentives for technology transfer are not restricted to Australian institutions and enterprises. 

This report's annex includes specific examples of relevant programs and projects in the format suggested by LDCs (IP/C/W/561).