50. The representative of Hong Kong, China welcomed the revised proposal announced by the United States as explained verbally, but would comment on it once it was available in writing and had been studied carefully. At the present stage, his delegation could not support any proposal for the work relating to Article 23.4 to be extended to any product other than wines, not even spirits. He reiterated that the wording and coverage of Article 23.4 of the TRIPS Agreement referred only to wines, which meant that, notwithstanding the Report of the TRIPS Council to the Singapore Ministerial Conference, any work on spirits had to be dealt with on a separate track, i.e. different from the work mandated under Article 23.4. Moreover, in respect of geographical indications for wines, there was a legal obligation under Article 23.4 to create a rules-based system with rights and obligations and his delegation had a strong objection, in principle, to such rights and obligations being extended to spirits. However, it had an open mind and looked forward to receiving the revised proposal announced by the United States on the matter. He considered it practical and constructive to separate the issue of scope from the work to be done under Article 23.4.
