Ms Irene Young (Hong Kong, China)

Bolivia, Plurinational State of on behalf of Ecuador

4; 5; 6 REVIEW OF THE PROVISIONS OF ARTICLE 27.3(B); RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE TRIPS AGREEMENT AND THE CONVENTION ON BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY; PROTECTION OF TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE AND FOLKLORE

36. The distinguished colleague from Ecuador could not attend the meeting this morning so I would also like to read out the statement on behalf of Ecuador and then read Bolivia's statement. So first on behalf of Ecuador: My country's position has been expressed repeatedly in this Council. So we would request that in the consideration of the three items concerned we refer to statements made by my delegation in previous meetings. 37. I would like to refer to Ecuador's proposal submitted a number of years ago on the possibility of the Secretariat preparing an update of the factual notes on the aforementioned topics. Given that the last compilation of the ideas discussed was produced in 2006 we believe that updated versions of documents IP/C/W/368, IP/C/W/369 and IP/C/W/370 would provide us with a clearer idea of what was already discussed for a number of years with the aim of ensuring that Members have an updated picture so that they can contribute to informing the debate on these issues, thus enabling us to move forward in our discussions. A consensus has been emerging around that idea and we are just waiting for one Member to adopt a more flexible position in order to allow us to have that update. So we would call upon that delegation to join the consensus. 38. In view of the above, we reaffirm our position that there should be an opportunity to conduct discussions on the basis of more detailed information, which could be presented by the Secretariat in a neutral manner, without compromising any of the Members' positions. We wish to emphasize this, as each Member's position would remain intact and could, moreover, be substantiated by further up-to-date information.

IP/C/W/368; IP/C/W/369; IP/C/W/370

The Council took note of the statements made and agreed to revert to the matters at its next meeting.

16. The Chairperson recalled that, at the meeting of the Council for TRIPS that had taken place in March 2017, Members had remained divided both on the substantive and procedural issues. Therefore, no progress had been made. She encouraged Members to consider how to make progress on these issues, rather than repeat well-known positions. Members were invited to report on their bilateral discussions, since the last meeting.

17. The representatives of India; South Africa; Brazil; Ecuador⁷; the Plurinational State of Bolivia; Indonesia; Egypt; China; the United States; Japan; Canada; Australia; Switzerland; and the Republic of Korea took the floor.

18. The Council took note of the statements made and agreed to revert to the matters at its next meeting.

19. The Chairperson recalled that the review of Article 27.3 (b) was an integral part of the TRIPS Agreement. However, information on important developments that many WTO Members had seen in this area over the last decade had not been provided to the Council. Since 2003, there had been no responses or updates to the Illustrative List of Questions on Article 27.3(b), and no notifications of domestic mechanisms to protect genetic resources and traditional knowledge. Members were encouraged to check whether they had information that ought to be shared in the WTO, and to submit notifications in a timely manner.

IP/C/M/86, IP/C/M/86/Add.1