annual report (2020) of the council for trips

1  general

1.  Since the period covered by its 2019 report^[1], the Council for TRIPS has held three formal meetings, on 6 February, 30 July and 15-16 October 2020. The minutes of these meetings are to be found in documents IP/C/M/94, IP/C/M/94/Add.1, IP/C/M/95 and IP/C/M/95/Add.1 and IP/C/M/96 and IP/C/M/96/Add.1.^[2] An open-ended informal meeting was held on 19 June 2020.

2.  The meeting in February was chaired by Ambassador Lundeg Purevsuren (Mongolia). The open‑ended informal meeting in June and the formal meeting in July were chaired by Ambassador Xolelwa Mlumbi-Peter (South Africa).

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 Cooperation Council of the Arab States of the Gulf (GCC), the African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO), the African Intellectual Property Organization (OAPI), 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 (WB), 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 meeting in November 2012, the Council agreed to grant ad hoc observer status on a meeting-by-meeting basis to the European Free Trade Association (EFTA). Pursuant to this decision, EFTA was invited to attend each formal meeting on an ad hoc basis. Decisions on requests for observer status from 13 other organizations are pending.^[3]