8.1. The Chairman recalled that Article 24.2 provided that the Council shall keep under review the application of the provisions of the Section on geographical indications of the Agreement. The principal tool used to coordinate the review process was a Checklist of Questions contained in document IP/C/13 and Addendum 1, which a number of Members had submitted, but many had not yet completed. In addition, at its meeting in March 2010, the Council had agreed to encourage Members to share information on and notify to the Council bilateral agreements relating to the protection of GIs which they had entered into.
8.2. As the question of GI protection remained of continuing interest and a point of discussion, Members were likely to benefit from a more complete and up-to-date picture. He therefore urged those delegations that had not yet done so to consider providing responses to the questions. Likewise, he encouraged those Members having already responded to the Checklist to provide updates to the extent there had been any significant changes in the way that they provided protection to GIs. He added that the Secretariat advised that only 49 Members had submitted responses, and that the majority of these dated back to the period from 1998 to 2002. Since there had been significant developments at the national and bilateral levels, it would be beneficial for Members to have a fuller base of updated information.
8.3. In line with the Council's recommendation made in March 2010, he also encouraged any Member that was a party to any bilateral agreements related to the protection of GIs and had not yet shared such information with the Council to do so as soon as possible.
