Minutes - TRIPS Council - View details of the intervention/statement

Ambassador Eduardo Pérez Motta (Mexico)
Adoption of the Agenda
11. Concerning the exclusion of certain implementation issues from the agenda, the representative of Bulgaria assumed that the Council agreed that the reason for such exclusion was the general principle that, once a deadline had been passed, the respective body needed either an agreement to continue with the mandate in question or to get a new mandate from a superior body like the TNC. He could agree to the adoption of the proposed agenda on that basis. If this was the general approach, his delegation would also refer to it also in other bodies. There were examples of extensions of mandates, for example in the areas of rules of origin, special and differential treatment and the DSU review. He also noted that the deadline for the modalities on agriculture was 31 March 2003. 12. As to the grounds for including certain items on the agenda, he said that GI extension had a second mandate in paragraph 18, which was analogous to paragraph 19 in relation to Article 27.3(b). If multiple mandates were the reason for the inclusion of the items in question, then extension should also be included on the basis of paragraph 18.
IP/C/M/39