145. The representative of Switzerland re-confirmed the commitment of his delegation to the implementation of the Decision in the TRIPS Agreement and to the conclusion of this work as soon as possible. He recalled that the waivers of obligations under the TRIPS Agreement were in place and fully operational, independently of any future TRIPS amendment. There were no obstacles to the use of a compulsory licence, under the conditions of the Decision, for the exportation of pharmaceutical products under patent protection to developing countries and, in particular, least-developed countries with insufficient or no manufacturing capacity facing public health problems.
146. He referred to the growing number of Members (Canada, the European Communities, India, Korea, Norway and also Switzerland) which were revising, or had already revised and put in place, national laws in order to quickly and faithfully implement the Decision. This provided sufficient evidence that the Decision provided the necessary legal certainty to implement permanent legislation at the national level, making it fully operational. It was at the disposal of those Members who had to address a situation covered by the Decision.
147. In his delegation's view, the Council only needed to find a way of technically transposing the Decision into the TRIPS Agreement in the most expeditious and efficient manner. He reiterated that it was vital for his delegation that the solution reflected the entirety of the substance of the consensus and the solution which had been found by the membership on 30 August 2003. Thus, only a purely technical amendment would faithfully translate the consensus found, which had been achieved only after a very long and difficult negotiation process, representing a delicate balance of interests of Members. He recalled that his delegation had already proposed the inclusion of the entirety of the 30 August 2003 consensus in an Annex to the Agreement. However, other options could be looked at as long as they translated the entirety of the consensus into the Agreement. For his delegation, the General Council Chairman's Statement made at the time of adoption of the Decision was part of the consensus found on 30 August 2003 and, therefore, also formed an integral part of the solution found on that day. Without the Statement, there would have been no solution. Therefore, it needed to be adequately reflected in the amendment.
148. With regard to other concerns of importance mentioned by some delegations in relation to the TRIPS Agreement and public health, he recalled the Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health of November 2001 and the flexibilities provided by the TRIPS Agreement as mentioned in that Declaration. He suggested that the Chairman continue informal consultations in bilateral or small group settings before resuming plenary discussions.
