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

Ambassador Dacio Castillo (Honduras)
Angola on behalf of Least-developed countries
F NON-VIOLATION AND SITUATION COMPLAINTS
105. The representative of Angola, speaking on behalf of the LDC Group, said that a non-violation complaint was a legal action that allowed a Member to bring a case before the WTO Dispute Settlement Body if it considered that a benefit arising from trade concessions had been deprived by another government's action, even if such an action did not actually relate to that specific commitment. With the exception of a few countries, the majority of Members were of the opinion that such actions were unnecessary, bearing in mind that the TRIPS Agreement did not grant tariff concessions and that they would create an unnecessary responsibility based on another Member's expectations and not on actual obligations. After several consultations organized the present Chair and his predecessors on the possible way forward, consensus seemed to be emerging on the extension of the moratorium by the Ministerial Conference. Hence, he considered that that kind of balance should be maintained.
IP/C/M/70