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

Ambassador Mero (United Republic of Tanzania)
15 Observer Status for International Intergovernmental Organizations
739. The position of Bangladesh has not changed. We support the request for observer status for the South Centre and the CBD Secretariat.
The Council so agreed.
80. The Chairman recalled that there remained 13 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. At the Council's meetings in March and June 2016, and in line with positions taken at earlier meetings, a number of interested delegations had reiterated their support for granting permanent observer status to the South Centre, the CBD Secretariat and the International Vaccine Institute. Other delegations had signalled that they could agree to grant permanent observer status to the African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO), the African Intellectual Property Organization (OAPI), the Cooperation Council of the Arab States of the Gulf (GCC), and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA). These four organisations currently enjoyed an ad hoc observer status on a meeting-to-meeting basis. He noted that ARIPO and the GCC were represented by high level officials at the meeting.

81. While there had been positive signals at the meeting in June 2016 indicating that the issues could be resolved through consultations among delegations, it had finally been not possible to make progress on these pending requests. Members had undertaken to further consult with their respective capitals. The Council had agreed to revert to this matter at this meeting under the agenda item on "Observer Status" and had asked the Chairman to continue his consultations on the pending requests for observer status with a view to reaching an agreement at this meeting.

82. The Chairman said that he had therefore taken up the matter at the informal meeting on 1 November. He had invited Members once more to refrain from linking requests for observer status. These should be assessed on their own merits, in particular the competence and interest that the requesting entity had in matters dealt with by the TRIPS Council. However, no progress had been signalled at that meeting.

83. To facilitate the consideration of the pending requests, he informed Members that, since the Council's meeting in June 2016, the Secretariat had made available on the Members' website the information provided by all 13 international intergovernmental organizations that had requested observer status. The information covered the nature of their respective work and the reasons for their interest in observer status. This should help Members better understand each request.

84. In line with the approach taken at the Council's meeting in June 2016, he said that he would like to facilitate another round of frank exchange of views among Members and suggested that the Council continue its session in informal mode. This should allow Members to take a fresh look at many pending requests and to make progress.

85. The Chairman summarized the informal discussion and noted that there had been objection to each of the pending requests among Members. Therefore, it had not been possible to make progress on any of them, but Member had undertaken to further consult with their respective capitals. He suggested that the Council agree to request him to continue his consultations on the pending requests for observer status.

86. The representatives of Nigeria on behalf of the African Group, Brazil, the United States, India, Ecuador, Egypt, the Plurinational State of Bolivia, China, the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Cuba and Pakistan took the floor.

87. The Council took note of the Chairman's summary and of the statements made and agreed to revert to the matter at its next meeting.

88. The Chairman said that since it had not been possible to reach an agreement to grant permanent observer status to ARIPO, OAPI, GCC and EFTA, he suggested that the Council invite these four organizations to attend its next meeting again on an ad hoc basis. This was in line with the agreement reached at the Council's meetings in June 2010 and November 2012 to grant them ad hoc observer status on a meeting-by-meeting basis.

89. The Council so agreed.
IP/C/M/83, IP/C/M/83/Add.1