287. 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 were to submit annually reports on actions taken or planned in pursuance of their commitments under Article 66.2. To that end, developed country Members were to provide new detailed reports every third year and, in the intervening years, updates to their most recent reports. Those reports were to be submitted prior to the last Council meeting scheduled for the year in question. The third set of detailed annual reports under the Decision had been presented to the Council's meeting in October 2009. At its meeting in June 2011, the Council had requested developed country Members to submit a second set of updates to those reports for the present meeting. The Secretariat had issued on 28 July an airgram (WTO/AIR/3788) to remind developed country Members of that request.
288. The Council had received updates to the third set of detailed annual reports from the following developed country Members: Norway; Japan; New Zealand; Australia; Canada; Switzerland; the United States; and the European Union and individual member States, namely, Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Ireland, Lithuania, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. This documentation had been circulated in document IP/C/W/558 and addenda. The report from the European Union had been circulated as an advance copy.
289. In addition, the Council had received two submissions from the delegation of Angola: document IP/C/W/561 containing a proposal by the LDC Group for a format for reports on the implementation of Article 66.2; and document IP/C/W/562 containing questions posed by the LDC Group concerning the reports that had been submitted for the eighth annual review and circulated in document IP/C/W/551 and addenda.
290. He recalled that, as regards the purpose and conduct of the review of that information, paragraph 2 of the Decision on the Implementation of Article 66.2 of the TRIPS Agreement explained that the annual review meetings should provide Members with an opportunity to pose questions in relation to the information submitted and request additional information; to 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 to consider any points relating to the operation of the reporting procedure established by the Decision.
291. Since some of the information had been received only recently and most of it was available only in its original language, he said that he intended to provide an opportunity, at the Council's next meeting, for Members to make further comments on the information submitted thus far that they might not yet have been able to study, and to comment on any additional information that might yet be provided before that meeting.
292. He said that for the fourth year in a row the Secretariat had organized, at the request by LDC Members, a workshop on transfer of technology under Article 66.2 of the TRIPS Agreement, back-to-back with the Council's end-of-year meeting. The workshop had been convened on the morning of Friday, 21 October. It had again brought together LDC and developed country experts to discuss the subject at a very practical level, building on earlier workshops. It was his understanding that the workshop had provided an opportunity once again for a constructive exchange of views, which had been useful to both LDC and developed country delegations.
