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

Ambassador Alfredo Suescum (Panama)
World Trade Organization
15.2 Eleventh Annual Review under Paragraph 2 of the Decision on the "Implementation of Article 66.2 of the TRIPS Agreement"
440. You will recall that, at the latest annual workshop to examine the Article 66.2 submissions in an informal setting that was held immediately prior to the Council meeting in November 2012, we discussed the question of improved forms of data management in this area to achieve three objectives: first, to make it more straightforward for developed countries to report Article 66.2-related information; second, to make it more efficient for the Secretariat to process and disseminate this information; and finally and perhaps most importantly, to make the information more easily accessible for those wishing to use it. Following the discussion, the Secretariat has been working on a very tentative prototype of what a data management tool might look like in the form of a strictly optional reporting tool for those countries reporting under this item. This is not intended in any way to pre-empt the discussion, as put forward by the LDC Group concerning a specific format, but rather learns from the wealth of documents that we have in this area, to try to find a practical way of capturing the same data that has been reported in the past but in a more usable form, better disposed to effective processing and dissemination. 441. At the conclusion of this session of the Council, we would like to invite any interested delegations to stay behind to have a look at a presentation of a prototype of this tool, underscoring once again that this is a tentative working prototype and it is intended to be used to consult with interested Members to develop it and refine so that it could be then put into operation as a practical reporting tool. 442. As in previous years, we are indeed planning another annual workshop immediately prior to the next formal session of the Council to look at Article 66.2 submissions and for interested delegations to discuss the content of those submissions and any necessary follow-up or clarification that is needed. That again would follow the same format that has been broadly welcomed in previous years. Further details will be circulated closer to the date of the next Council session
The Council so agreed.
15.3. The Chairman recalled that paragraph 1 of the decision on the "Implementation of Article 66.2 of the TRIPS Agreement" provided that developed country Members shall submit annual reports on actions taken or planned in pursuance of their commitments under Article 66.2. To that end, they 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. Paragraph 3 of the decision determined the information to be provided in those reports.

15.4. The first, second and third sets of detailed annual reports under the decision had been presented to the Council's end-of-year meetings in 2003, 2006, 2009 and 2012, and updates to the Council's meetings in the intervening years. Therefore, for 2013 developed country Members should submit a first set of updates to the fourth set of new detailed reports on actions taken or planned in pursuance of their commitments under Article 66.2 submitted last year. Those updates should be provided prior to the Council's end-of-year meeting scheduled for 10-11 October. As provided in paragraph 2 of the Decision, the Council was required to review those updates at that meeting.

15.5. Accordingly, he suggested that developed country Members be requested to provide new detailed reports on actions they had taken or planned in pursuance of their commitments under Article 66.2 by 18 September, i.e. about three weeks before the meeting, in order to allow their timely circulation and review at the Council's meeting in October.

15.6. The Council so agreed.

15.7. The Chairman said that, as requested by the Council at its March meeting, in preparation for the annual review he intended to hold consultations with delegations on the request by Haiti on behalf of the LDC Group that the Council adopt the proposed format for reports to be submitted by developed country Members under Article 66.2 contained in a communication by Angola on behalf of the LDC Group in document IP/C/W/561.

15.8. He recalled that, in view of the on-going implementation of the recommendations for savings and more efficient use of resources made by the Budget Committee5, at its meeting in June 2012, the Council had invited the Secretariat to identify ways of facilitating the submission, processing and circulation of this information, and to consult with delegations at a technical level. He invited the Secretariat to provide an update on its work to develop an information management tool for this purpose, and to inform the Council of a workshop that it was planning to hold on transfer of technology.

15.9. The representatives of the Secretariat and Nepal took the floor under this sub-item. The statements will be reproduced in an addendum to the present record.

IP/C/M/73, IP/C/M/73/Add.1