H.E. Ambassador Lundeg Purevsuren

European Union

9 SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REVIEW UNDER PARAGRAPH 2 OF THE DECISION ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF ARTICLE 66.2 OF THE TRIPS AGREEMENT

195.   The EU and its member States thank the WTO Secretariat for having organised the technology transfer workshop and for having given the opportunity for the EU to present its Article 66.2 report on technology transfer. 196.   The EU also appreciated the constructive spirit of the capital-based experts of the LDC Members at the workshop. We believe that the discussion was very fruitful, and it will help us to design our projects to the needs of the LDCs. Since the EU has already presented its report at the October TRIPS Council last year and yesterday at the LDC workshop, in the interest of time, we will not repeat it. 197.   The EU remains open to receive suggestions from LDC Members on their needs and priorities for potential future projects. The permanent contact points to send suggestions are the EU delegations in the given LDCs, because they have the necessary knowledge on the country concerned to evaluate the needs and the priorities expressed and explained by the LDCs. All these needs and priorities are going to be channelled in by the EU delegations to the European Commission for further evaluation by a quality review group. 198.   We encourage LDC Members to keep in close cooperation with the EU delegations to be sure that all their needs and priorities are perfectly reflected in the future projects. The EU also requested clarification from the WTO Secretariat on its future plans concerning the e-TRIPS database and its potential adaption to the template tabled by the LDC Members.

The Council took note of the statements made.

25.   The Chair recalled that, at its meeting in October 2019, the Council had had on its agenda the 17th Annual Review under Paragraph 2 of the Decision on the Implementation of Article 66.2 of the TRIPS Agreement. At that meeting, delegations had briefly presented the updated reports submitted by developed country Members under Article 66.2. Since that meeting New Zealand had submitted its updated report. All updated reports had been circulated under IP/C/W/656 and addenda. At that meeting, the Council had also agreed that it would revert to the item at the present meeting to permit continued consideration of the submitted material.
26.   In order to give LDC Members more time to absorb the information provided by developed countries in their reports, and to ensure that these reports were available in the official languages of the WTO, the Article 66.2 Workshop had once again taken place back-to-back with the TRIPS Council meeting. This had allowed some of the capital-based delegates who had participated in the Workshop, to participate in the meeting and take part in the discussions under this agenda item.
27.   The LDC Group has circulated a Room document entitled, "Proposed New Template of annual Reporting on Technology Transfer to LDCs". This room document RD/IP/37 was available online on documents for meetings, and as a paper copy at the back of the meeting room. He noted that the English and French texts were both contained in the same document. He invited the Secretariat to report on the Workshop.
28.   A representative of the Secretariat took the floor.
29.   The Chair invited delegations to comment on the materials submitted for the last meeting, as well as to share their experiences from the Article 66.2 Workshop held in the past two days.
30.   The representatives of Chad, on behalf of the LDC Group; Bangladesh; the United Kingdom; Switzerland; the United States of America; Canada; the European Union; Japan; Norway; Vanuatu; Australia; and the African Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO) took the floor.
31.   The Council took note of the statements made.

IP/C/M/94, IP/C/M/94/Add.1