Ambassador Mero (United Republic of Tanzania)

World Trade Organization

1 Notifications under Provisions of the Agreement

1. Under Article 63.2 of the TRIPS Agreement, the Council has received the following notifications: • Mexico - a Decree Amending and Supplementing Various Provisions of the Industrial Property Law and a General Declaration on the Protection of the Appellation of Origin "Cacao Grijalva"; • The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia - its Law on Copyright and Related Rights, the Law on Industrial Property and the Law on Customs Measures for Protection of IPRs and related application forms; • The Kingdom of Bahrein - updates on its main laws and regulations regarding trademarks, trade secrets, geographical indications, patents and utility models, industrial designs and integrated circuits, including Decision No. 65 for the year 2016 issuing the Executive Regulations for the GCC Law on Trademarks. • Croatia - notified a set of new and updated legislative measures, including amendments to the Trademarks Act and Regulations, Regulations on Industrial Designs, Bi-Laws and Protected Designations of Origin, Protected Geographical Indications, and Guaranteed Traditional Specialities of Agricultural Products and Foodstuffs etc. These notifications were listed on the agenda for this meeting. In addition, they are also available in the IP/N/1 series of documents and on the Documents Online database. 2. Since the circulation of the revised draft agenda, the Council has also received a couple of other legislative measures: • Brunei Darussalam - the Patent Order 2011 and the Patent Rules 2012, the Plant Varieties Protection Order 2015, and the Industrial Design Rules 2014; • Republic of Moldova - laws on the protection of trademarks, industrial designs, plant varieties and inventions, the Law on the State Agency for IP, the Law Ratifying the Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Moldova and the European Patent Office (EPO) on Validation of European Patents, the Law Amending and Supplementing Certain Legislative Acts and the Law on Vineyards and Wine; • Canada - an Act to amend the Copyright Right Bill C 11; and from Mexico, the Decree regarding the Acceptance of the Marrakesh Treaty to facilitate access to published works for persons who are blind, visually impaired or otherwise print disabled. Finally, Madagascar has notified its Project for a National Innovation Policy and Strategy in the Field of Industrial Property. These notifications will also be made available in the IP/N/1 series of documents. In addition, Guyana has submitted information regarding contact points under Article 69 for the exchange of information and cooperation on trade in infringing the goods.

The Council took note of the notifications and the statements made.

1. The Chairman invited the Secretariat to provide an update on the notifications that the Council had received since its meeting in June 2016.

2. The representative of the Secretariat provided the update accordingly.

3. The Chairman encouraged the delegations that had notified new or revised legislative measures, or new or updated responses to the enforcement checklist to briefly inform the Council about the nature of the notified amendment or update. This had been standard practice at recent sessions of the Council. It provided valuable insight into the notifications and helped promote awareness and transparency.

4. The representatives of Canada, Ecuador, Mexico and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia took the floor.

5. The Chairman recalled that, at the Council's meeting in June 2016, the Secretariat had updated delegations on the development of the e-TRIPS online platform for filing and consulting notifications. He invited the Secretariat to update the Council on the project.

6. The representative of the Secretariat provided the update accordingly.

7. The representative of the Republic of Moldova took the floor.

8. The Chairman noted that notifications to the Council were not keeping up with the actual development of laws and regulations relating to the TRIPS Agreement. He recalled that Article 63.2 was not a one-off requirement, but obliged Members to notify any new or amended laws. He therefore urged those Members concerned to complete any outstanding initial notifications and to keep up to date with notifications on subsequent amendments. He particularly encouraged Members to notify changes made to their laws or regulations to implement the Decision on TRIPS and Public Health. Apart from being a specific TRIPS obligation, this would help the Council in its review of the operation of the Agreement.

9. The Council took note of the notifications and the statements made.

IP/C/M/83, IP/C/M/83/Add.1