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

Ambassador Dacio Castillo (Honduras)
10 TENTH ANNUAL REVIEW UNDER PARAGRAPH 2 OF THE DECISION ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF ARTICLE 66.2 OF THE TRIPS AGREEMENT
174. The representative of Haiti, speaking on behalf of the LDC Group, said that the LDC Group wished to thank those developed country Members who had submitted their reports on the implementation of Article 66.2 of the Agreement and had remained engaged in this process. He also thanked the WTO Secretariat for organizing the fifth workshop on the implementation of Article 66.2 and expressed his appreciation of the level of participation of capital-based delegates of LDCs. The productive meeting had provided a good opportunity for exchanging views among developed Members and LDCs on the activities carried out under Article 66.2 and had created a better understanding how to improve the quality of this information for the beneficiary LDCs. 175. He said that it was important to recall that the Agreement established minimum levels of protection that each government had to provide for IP of fellow Members. Furthermore, it contained the important principle that IP protection should contribute to technological innovation and the transfer of technology. According to the Agreement, both producers and users should benefit, and economic and social welfare should be enhanced. The ultimate objective of Article 66.2 was to enable LDCs to create a sound and viable technological base for development. 176. In light of this objective, the monitoring mechanism for Article 66.2 established by the TRIPS Council Decision in 2003 had laid the groundwork for improving the full implementation of developed Members' obligations to provide incentives to their enterprises and institutions that promoted and encouraged technology transfer to LDCs. Under these obligations, developed Members had to provide detailed annual update reports to the Council. 177. As the LDC Group continued to evaluate compliance of developed partners in order to maximize the gain and the efficiency of this cooperation, a trend towards better and more detailed information, and an improved clarity had been observed over the years. However, a lack of uniformity and thoroughness of information had hindered progress and slowed the process. To remedy that situation, the LDC Group had submitted at the October and November Council meetings in 2011 a proposal on a uniform reporting format for developed Member submissions on the implementation of Article 66.2, which had been circulated as document IP/C/W/561, dated 6 October 2011. 178. He said that, judging from the recent workshop and from the analysis of some 2012 reports, the LDC Group had received positive reactions from a number of developed countries partners. In order to move the process forward, his delegation wished to propose that the TRIPS Council adopt the uniform reporting format for developed Member submissions on the implementation of Article 66.2 presented by the LDC Group in document IP/C/W/561. It would also be appreciated if developing country partners that were in a position to do so could join this new reporting process. 179. He said that the LDC Group would consider the adoption of the format as a turning point in the implementation of Article 66.2 and the improvement of the reporting mechanism and hoped that the Group would receive the support of all WTO Members.
IP/C/M/71