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

Ambassador Federico A. González (Paraguay) (24-25 October) and Mr. Martin Glass (Hong Kong, China) (17 November)
G.6 Next steps and recommendations
244. Turning to the draft report to the General Council on the annual review of the Paragraph 6 System, the Chairman recalled that the Secretariat had circulated a draft cover note for the Council's report modelled on previous years' reports (JOB/IP/4). It contained factual information on the implementation and use of the System established under the Decision, discussions regarding its operation, and the status of acceptances of the Protocol Amending the TRIPS Agreement. In accordance with the way that the Council had prepared its reports in the previous years, the portion of the minutes of the meeting that reflected the discussions held under the specific agenda item could be attached to the cover note. 245. As regards paragraph 15 of the report, he recalled that Argentina, Indonesia and New Zealand had recently accepted the Protocol. There was also a minor error in the paragraph, namely that Uganda should have been included in the list of Members that had notified their acceptance. This paragraph would be updated and corrected accordingly. 246. The Protocol had originally been open for acceptance by Members until 1 December 2007. Upon proposals by the TRIPS Council, the General Council had twice extended that period for further two-year periods. The period for acceptance was currently due to expire on 31 December 2011. Given the proximity of that date, the Chairman suggested that the Council consider again submitting a proposal to the General Council for a decision to extend the period for the acceptance of the Protocol. For that purpose, a draft decision that could be submitted to the General Council for adoption was included in Annex 2 to the draft report. It did not yet contain a new deadline for the extended period for acceptances. In the light of the consultations he had held on this matter, he suggested that the Council propose to extend the period by a further two years until 31 December 2013.
IP/C/M/67