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

Ambassador Yonov Agah (Nigeria)
K FIFTH ANNUAL REVIEW UNDER PARAGRAPH 2 OF THE DECISION ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF ARTICLE 66.2 OF THE TRIPS AGREEMENT
169. The Chairman recalled that, at its meeting in February 2003, the Council had adopted a decision on the "Implementation of Article 66.2 of the TRIPS Agreement". Paragraph 1 of the Decision provided that developed country Members shall submit annually reports on actions taken or planned in pursuance of their commitments under Article 66.2. To this end, they were to provide new detailed reports every third year and, in the intervening years, provide updates to their most recent reports. These reports were to be submitted prior to the last Council meeting scheduled for the year in question. He said that the second set of detailed annual reports under the Decision had been presented to the Council's meeting in October 2006. At its meeting in June 2007, the Council had requested developed country Members to submit updates to these reports for the October meeting. The Secretariat had issued an airgram (WTO/AIR/3053) on 23 July to remind developed country Members of this request. 170. The Council had received updates to these reports from the following developed country Members: Switzerland; Japan; the European Communities and individual member States (namely Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom); as well as from New Zealand; Norway; the United States; Canada; and Australia (being circulated in document IP/C/W/497 and addenda). 171. As regards the purpose and conduct of the review of this information, he recalled that paragraph 2 of the Decision on the Implementation of Article 66.2 of the TRIPS Agreement explained that the annual review meetings shall provide Members with an opportunity to pose questions in relation to the information submitted and request additional information, discuss the effectiveness of the incentives provided in promoting and encouraging technology transfer to least-developed country Members in order to enable them to create a sound and viable technological base, and consider any points relating to the operation of the reporting procedure established by the Decision.
IP/C/M/55