232. The Chairman said that the list of 15 pending requests for observer status in the TRIPS Council by other intergovernmental organizations was contained in document IP/C/W/52/Rev.12. Although the Council had recently made some progress on two requests, it had not been able to reach consensus on the others.
233. At its last meeting, the Council had requested him to continue his consultations on the matter. These consultations had focussed on the two issues that Members had specifically discussed at the last meeting, namely the suggestion that the CBD Secretariat be invited to the Council's meetings on an ad hoc, meeting-by-meeting basis, and the suggestion that the ad hoc, meeting-by-meeting invitations to the Secretariats of the African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO) and the African Intellectual Property Organization (OAPI) be converted into a permanent observer status. He said that, unfortunately, he was not in a position to report any new thinking with respect to these issues.
234. He added that some delegations had also referred to the other 14 pending requests. Given that most of them had been pending for some time, some delegations had felt that the Council's consideration of these requests would be facilitated if these organizations could provide up-to-date information, including on the nature of their work and the reasons for their interest in being accorded observer status. The Chairman suggested that the Council request the Secretariat to contact the organizations whose requests were pending to request such updated information.
