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

Ambassador Alfredo Suescum (Panama)
World Trade Organization
2 NOTIFICATIONS UNDER PROVISIONS OF THE AGREEMENT
3. Under Article 63.2. of the Agreement, the Council has received the following notifications: • From China, the revised Trademark Law and the revised Regulations for its implementation; • From Montenegro, amendments to the Law on Copyright and Related Rights, to the Law on Trademarks, to the Law on Legal Protection of Industrial Design, and to the Law on Protection of Topographies of Semiconductors; • From Ecuador, the consolidated Intellectual Property Act and its Implementing Regulations, the Law on Books, the Publication of a Certified Copy of UPOV 1978, an Amendment to Resolution No. 003 on Patent Fees, the Instructions for the Grant of Compulsory Licences for Pharmaceutical Patents, the Declaration of Public Interest Regarding Access to Medicines for Human Use, a Regulation Establishing the Ecuador Country Brand Licensing Procedure, and a number of other laws and regulations; • From Greece, an amendment to the Law on Reinforcement and Development of Film Art and Other Provisions, a Law implementing certain EU Directives in the field of copyright and amending the Law on Copyright, Related Rights and Other Cultural Issues, an amendment to the Presidential Decree in application of the Act Revising the Convention on the Grant of European Patents, a Ministerial Decision regarding the Electronic Distribution of Documents to and from the Industrial Property Organization and Electronic Filing of Industrial Design or Model Registration, an amendment to provisions in Law 3377/2055 dealing with counterfeit goods, and a Presidential Decree setting out the administrative process of imposing fines to collecting societies and collective protection societies; • From Mexico, a Decree Amending, Adding and Repealing Certain Provisions of the Regulations under the Industrial Property Law (IP/N/1/MEX/I/12); and • From Japan, the Act on the Protection of the Names of Specific Agricultural, Forestry and Fishery Products and Foodstuffs and the Amendment of the Act. 4. These notifications are referred to on the revised agenda for this meeting. They are available in the IP/N/1- series of documents, and the actual texts of laws are on the Documents Online database. 5. Since the distribution of the revised agenda the delegation of Switzerland has also notified an update of the list of laws and regulations in force dealing with intellectual property and legislative amendments that have been made since May 2013. These notifications will also be made available to Members in this series of documents IP/N/1- as quickly as possible. 6. Also, Saint Kitts and Nevis has notified its initial responses to the Checklist of Issues on Enforcement.1 No other initial responses or updates to earlier responses have been submitted since our last meeting. 7. Finally, Benin has submitted information regarding contact points under Article 69 for the exchange of information and cooperation on trade in infringing goods.2 The information on the Members' transparency toolkit page has been updated accordingly.
IP/N/1/MEX/I/12; IP/N/6/KNA/1; IP/N/3/BEN/1

The Council took note of the notifications and the statements made.
6. The Chairman invited the Secretariat to provide an update on the legislative measures that had been notified by a number of Members since the Council's meeting in November 2016.

7. The representative of the Secretariat took the floor.

8. The representatives of Switzerland, Ecuador, China, Montenegro, Mexico and Japan took the floor.

9. The Chairman said that, as previous Chairpersons had indicated, notifications made to the Council were not keeping up with the development of legislation and regulations relating to the TRIPS Agreement. He reminded that Article 63.2 was not a one-off requirement, but rather an obligation to notify any new or amended laws. He urged Members to complete outstanding initial notifications and to keep up to date with notifications and subsequent amendments. Equally he reminded delegations that this Council established the Checklist of Issues on Enforcement as one element of Members' notification obligations. He urged Members that were yet to submit their initial responses to the Checklist to do so in due course. He also urged other Members that had already submitted responses in the past to update the information that they had provided.

10. He recalled that, at the Council's meeting in November 2016, the Secretariat had updated delegations on the development of the e-TRIPS online platform, which was a tool for filing and consulting notifications. As this was still work in progress, he suggested that the Secretariat be invited to provide a further update on how the work was progressing at the Council's next meeting in June. He encouraged the delegations which had an interest in testing this system, or liked to provide some feedback, to contact the Secretariat.

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

IP/C/M/85, IP/C/M/85/Add.1

1 Circulated in document IP/N/6/KNA/1.

2 Circulated in document IP/N/3/BEN/1.