196. The representative of Senegal, speaking on behalf of least-developed countries, said that the issue of extension of the transition period for least-developed country Members to 1 January 2016 in respect of patents and undisclosed information in the area of pharmaceutical products was extremely important for the Members in question. Given that it affected their development prospects and their resources available for implementing and complying with the TRIPS Agreement, they needed some grace period to adjust to the TRIPS Agreement.
197. The Ministerial Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health had provided least-developed country Members with an extension of the transition period, in respect of pharmaceutical products, until the year 2016. Paragraph 7 started with a reference to the commitment of developed country Members to give incentives to their enterprises and institutions for technology transfer to least-developed country Members. This was elaborated in more concrete terms in paragraph 11.2 of the Decision on Implementation Issues and Related Concerns. This was important for the least-developed country Members because the extension of the transition period should not be seen as an end in itself. Rather, it should be seen as the period for building institutional, administrative and other capabilities to enable least-developed countries both to fulfil their obligations and commitments as well as take advantage of their rights.
198. In various paragraphs of the Doha Ministerial Declaration, Members had agreed that special and positive measures would be undertaken by the WTO to assist least-developed country Members to benefit from and be equitably integrated into the multilateral trading system. It had been in this regard that Members had appreciated some unilateral initiatives some Members had taken in favour of least-developed country Members as well as the commitments under the Brussels Declaration, and had gone on to take specific measures in the area of public health with a view to ensure that the TRIPS Agreement was more responsive to the needs of least-developed country Members and was interpreted and implemented in a manner that supported Members' efforts to protect public health. The objectives and principles of the TRIPS Agreement, as stated in Articles 7 and 8 respectively, were designed to ensure an equitable balance between rights of the society to benefit from advances in science and technology and private rights relating to intellectual property as defined in the TRIPS Agreement, taking into account the special circumstances of developing and least-developed country Members.
199. He thanked the Secretariat for preparing a draft Decision for a waiver, and hoped that delegations in the TRIPS Council would have no objection to carrying out Ministers' instructions to the Council. He said that least-developed country Members would like to request that the extension of the transition period to 1 January 2016 under paragraph 7 of the Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health be broadened to cover the requirement to grant exclusive marketing rights under Article 70.8(a) and 70.9 of the TRIPS Agreement, with the understanding that the enabling provisions for this purpose include Article IX.3 and IX.4 of the WTO Agreement relating to waivers of WTO obligations, and the provisions of the TRIPS Agreement on the objectives and principles of intellectual property protection and on exceptions to intellectual property rights. This was necessary to ensure that the requirement to grant exclusive marketing rights did not adversely affect least-developed country Members, undermine the objectives and principles of the TRIPS Agreement, and undermine the extended transition period agreed by Members at the Ministerial Conference.
200. Concluding, he said that, on the basis of the objectives and principles of the TRIPS Agreement and in line with the Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health, least-developed country Members requested the TRIPS Council, in considering the action to take, to ensure that the action fully reflected Ministers' instructions to the TRIPS Council and, further, that the action fully reflected the positive and supportive approach required by the Doha Ministerial Declaration and the Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health.
