98. The Chairperson said that, at previous meetings, the Council had had a substantive exchange of views on the matter which appeared in the minutes of those meetings. His informal consultations on the matter since the meeting of the Council of 7 and 8 July 1999 had shown that no consensus had been reached. The Council had to send to the Ministerial Conference certain recommendations on this matter, but it was clear that no recommendations could be agreed upon. He suggested that the Council use its Annual Report (1999) to convey to the General Council what the situation on the matter was, for example by adding the following text to paragraph 26 of the draft Annual Report (1999) as contained in document IP/C/W/157: "Most Members have expressed themselves in favour of recommending to the Ministerial Conference an extension of the period referred to in Article 64.2 of the Agreement in order to allow the Council to further examine the scope and modalities of non-violation complaints under the TRIPS Agreement. One Member has made it clear that it is not in a position to join a consensus to that effect."
