14.1. The Chairman recalled that there remained 12 pending requests for observer status in the TRIPS Council by other intergovernmental organizations. The updated list was contained in document IP/C/W/52/Rev.13.
14.2. In the past few years, the Council had been able to make some progress by agreeing to grant ad hoc observer status on a meeting-by-meeting basis to ARIPO, OAPI, the GCC and EFTA.
14.3. As requested by the Council at its meeting in October 2014, he had consulted with a number of interested delegations on the pending requests for observer status, in particular those from the South Centre, the CBD Secretariat and the International Vaccine Institute. Unfortunately, he was not in a position to report on new thinking among those delegations.
14.4. The representatives of India; Nepal; Bangladesh; Brazil; Egypt; the European Union; Cuba; China; Cuba; Ecuador; and the United States took the floor.
14.5. The Council took note of the statements made and agreed to revert to the matter at its next meeting.
