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

Ambassador Dennis Francis (Trinidad & Tobago)
A. NOTIFICATIONS UNDER PROVISIONS OF THE AGREEMENT
1. The Chairman said that, since its meeting in October 2008, the Council had received a notification of laws and regulations from Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, which was being circulated in document IP/N/1/VCT/1 and related law series documents. Among the Members whose transitional periods under Article 65.2 had expired on 1 January 2000, there remained only one more Member that had not yet submitted any notification concerning its implementing legislation, namely Saint Kitts and Nevis. 2. The Council had also received a number of supplements and updates to earlier notifications of laws and regulations notified under Article 63.2 of the Agreement. The Slovak Republic had notified consolidated versions of its amended laws on patents, trademarks, designations of origin and geographical indications, utility models and designs; Tunisia had notified its new customs code; and Switzerland had notified amendments to its laws and regulations for the period from 2004 to September 2008. The Philippines had notified the Philippine Republic Act No. 9502, also known as the "Universally Accessible Cheaper and Quality Medicines Act of 2008", together with its Implementing Rules and Regulations; this law and regulations implemented, inter alia, the WTO Decision on the "Implementation of Paragraph 6 of the Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health". These notifications were being circulated in the IP/N/1/- series of documents. 3. He urged those Members whose initial notifications remained incomplete to submit the outstanding material without delay and reminded other Members of their obligation to notify any subsequent amendments of their laws and regulations without delay after their entry into force. In particular, he reminded those Members who had made any changes to their laws and/or regulations to implement the Decision on TRIPS and Public Health and who had not yet notified such changes to the Council to do so. 4. As regards notifications of contact points under Article 69, since the Council's meeting in October 2008, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines had notified its contact point. In addition, updates to contact points notified earlier had been received from Brazil, the Kyrgyz Republic and the United States. These notifications were being circulated in addenda to document IP/N/3/Rev.10.
IP/C/M/59