Minutes - TRIPS Council - View details of the intervention/statement

Ambassador Eduardo Pérez Motta (Mexico)
Adoption of the Agenda
4. The representative of Bulgaria sought further clarifications concerning the exclusion of the outstanding implementation issues from the agenda. The reasons for the exclusion were unclear, in particular because some of the issues had been included in the proposed agenda, although one could argue that this was on the basis of another mandate. He was concerned that if the Council agreed to suspend its work on these issues while discussions at the TNC level would be limited to procedural matters, the result might in practice amount to option 2. Therefore, he could not agree to suspend the work on these issues on the grounds stated by the Chair. However, he was willing to discuss other possible grounds for the exclusion, for example that the Council could not discuss these matters because a relevant deadline had been passed. If the Council would so decide, then the same principle should be applied also in the other areas of the WTO's work. Finally, he stated that there had not been any agreement so far either at the TNC level or at the level of the TRIPS Council to suspend work on outstanding implementation issues.
IP/C/M/39