100. The Chairperson recalled that paragraph 8 of the waiver Decision provided that the Council for TRIPS should review annually the functioning of the system set out in the Decision with a view to ensuring its effective operation and should annually report on its operation to the General Council. Furthermore, the paragraph provided that this review should be deemed to fulfil the review requirements of Article IX:4 of the WTO Agreement.
101. She said that the Secretariat had circulated a draft cover note for the Council's report modelled on previous years reports (JOB(09)/128). It contained factual information on the implementation and use of the system established under the Decision, on discussions regarding its operation and on the acceptance of the Protocol Amending the TRIPS Agreement. She proposed that, in accordance with the way that the Council prepared its reports in the previous years, the part of the minutes of the meeting reflecting the discussions held under this agenda item be attached to the cover note as an annex.
102. As regards the status of acceptances of the Protocol Amending the TRIPS Agreement that was done at Geneva on 6 December 2005, she said that the following Members had notified their acceptance of the Protocol since the Council's meeting in June: Macao, China on 16 June; Canada on 16 June; Bahrain on 4 August; Colombia on 7 August; and Zambia on 10 August (documents WT/Let/645, 646, 652, 650 and 651, respectively). She recalled that 26 notifications of acceptance of the Protocol, including from the European Communities, had been received. The Protocol would enter into force for the Members concerned upon acceptance of the Protocol by two thirds of the Members. She said that the Secretariat had circulated an update to the note on the status of acceptances of the Protocol that the Council requested it to prepare at its meeting in October 2006 (IP/C/W/490/Rev.5) and that the Secretariat would continue to update it periodically.
103. The Chairperson recalled that the Protocol was originally open for acceptance by Members until 1 December 2007 and upon a proposal by the TRIPS Council, the General Council had extended this period until 31 December 2009. Given the proximity of this date, she suggested that the Council may wish to consider again submitting a proposal to the General Council for a decision to extend the period for the acceptance of the Protocol. For this purpose, a draft decision on the extension of the period for the acceptance that could be submitted to the General Council for adoption had been included in Annex 2 to the draft report. As regards the deadline for the extended period, she suggested that the Council consider proposing an extension by a further two years until 31 December 2011.
