IP/C/W/426/Add.5

European Union

The following communication, dated 14 September 2004, is being circulated at the request of the Delegation of the European Communities. It was circulated as an advance copy for the Council's Meeting on 21 September 2004. _______________ This document complements the information on the implementation of Article 67 of the TRIPS Agreement, as provided in document IP/C/W/408/Add.5 of 3 February 2004. It concerns the technical cooperation activities carried out during the past two years – until Summer 2004 – by the European Communities and individual member States in favour of developing and least developed country members, with the objective to facilitate the implementation of the TRIPS Agreement. It is intended to update this notification upon availability of additional information from other member States. The EC draw the attention of the members of the TRIPS Council to the fact that the above-mentioned technical cooperation providers undertook considerable activities in the candidate countries (Bulgaria, Romania, and Turkey) and the new member States of the European Union (Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovak Republic, and Slovenia). Additional information on the activities of the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (OHIM) and the European Patent Office (EPO) will be distributed as a supplement to this document.