101. The Chairman recalled that, at its meeting in June 2004, the Council had agreed to continue its work pursuant to paragraph 11 of the General Council Decision on the "Implementation of Paragraph 6 of the Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health" (hereinafter referred to as "the Decision") on the preparation of an amendment to the TRIPS Agreement with a view to the TRIPS Council making a recommendation by the end of March 2005 so that the General Council could conclude its work on the amendment at its first meeting thereafter.
102. He informed the Council that, as had been agreed at its meeting in December 2004, he had continued to consult with delegations individually and in groups, as well as in open-ended format on the best way to proceed on this matter. However, there seemed to remain significant differences among delegations in regard to the substantive content of an amendment to replace the Decision, although there had been some signs of flexibility on the issue of the legal form.
103. He drew attention to three new communications; one from the delegation of Rwanda on behalf of the African Group providing arguments to support the African Group proposal on the implementation of paragraph 11 of the Decision (IP/C/W/440, referring to an earlier proposal by the African Group circulated as document IP/C/W/437); another from the delegation of Barbados on behalf of the Group of Commonwealth Developing Countries containing a "Report on the Workshop on the WTO Decision on Access to Medicines at Affordable Prices for Countries with No or Insufficient Manufacturing Capacities", that was organized by the Commonwealth Secretariat in Geneva from 12 to 14 October 2004 (IP/C/W/439); and a third from the United States commenting on the implementation of the Decision (subsequently circulated as document IP/C/W/444).
