H.E. Ambassador Dagfinn Sørli and Ambassador Dr. Lansana Gberie

Switzerland

10 FOLLOW-UP TO THE NINETEENTH ANNUAL REVIEW UNDER PARAGRAPH 2 OF THE DECISION ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF ARTICLE 66.2 OF THE TRIPS AGREEMENT

203.   Switzerland was pleased to participate in the 2022 Workshop on the Implementation of Article 66.2 of the TRIPS Agreement. We were asked to focus our presentation on a specific thematic area. We have chosen to focus on health technologies as Switzerland is a leader in this field and aims to improve access to proven and newly developed, safe, effective, high-quality, affordable and financially sustainable medicines. 204.   The Workshop format was a good opportunity to present a brief update of the 2021 report which was circulated in September 2021 and in particular, to present three selected Geneva-based Product Development partnerships (PDPs) – FIND, MMV and DNDi - to foster local production and greater access to medical technologies. We would like to thank the Secretariat for the organization of the Workshop. The constructive discussions held throughout the Workshop will certainly contribute to the continued collaboration on technology transfer. We greatly appreciated the summary provided by the Secretariat that lists all incentives and projects implemented by the reporting Members. Additionally, specific summaries for each field of technology transfer were presented just before each thematic session. This is very helpful to keep the overview of donors, projects, and beneficiaries in the specific field of technology and knowledge transfer. We suggest maintaining this good practice. 205.   Switzerland remains committed to engage in the TRIPS Council's discussion on the implementation of Article 66.2 and to promote and encourage technology transfer to LDCs.

The Council took note of the statements made and agreed to revert to the matter at its next meeting.

51. The Chair recalled that the Council had conducted the Nineteenth Annual Review under Paragraph 2 of the Decision on the Implementation of Article 66.2 of the TRIPS Agreement at its meeting in October 2021. At that meeting delegations from developed country Members had briefly presented the updated reports they had submitted under Article 66.2, and the Council had agreed that it would revert to the item at the present meeting to permit continued consideration of the submitted material. He also recalled that, in July 2020, the LDC Group had circulated a new submission entitled "Proposed New Template for Annual Reporting under Article 66.2 of the Agreement on Trade-related Intellectual Property Rights" in document .
52. In order to give LDCs more time to absorb the information provided by developed country Members in their reports, and to ensure that these reports were available in the official languages of the WTO, the Secretariat had once again organized a "Workshop on the Implementation of the Article 66.2 of the TRIPS Agreement". Due to the sanitary situation, the workshop had been held in virtual format on 2, 3 and 4 March 2022. The Chair indicated that some capital-based delegates who had participated in that Workshop were present at the meeting.
53. The Chair asked the Secretariat to report on this Workshop.
54. A representative of the Secretariat took the floor.
55. The representatives of Sierra Leone; Chad,; Bangladesh; Togo; Nepal; Tanzania; Norway; the European Union; the United Kingdom, South Africa; Japan; Switzerland; the United States; Canada; and Australia took the floor.
56. The Council took note of the statements made and agreed to revert to the matter at its next meeting.

IP/C/M/104/Add.1, IP/C/M/104/Rev.1, IP/C/M104