37. The Chairperson said that, since the March 2017 meeting of the Council, the following Members had deposited their instruments of acceptance of the Protocol Amending the TRIPS Agreement: Sierra Leone (21 March); Fiji (5 May); and, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (9 May). Currently, the amended TRIPS Agreement applied to 116 Members. She noted that the remaining 48 Members were still operating under the 2003 waiver Decision. She intended to write to those Members reminding them that they were expected to complete their domestic acceptance procedures and to submit their instruments of acceptance by the end of 2017, when the current deadline for acceptance of the Protocol was due to expire.
38. The Chairperson also recalled that, at its meeting on 30 January, when the Council had taken note of the entry into force of the amended TRIPS Agreement, Members had expressed their interest in considering how the Paragraph 6 System could be effectively used, in practice, as a procurement tool to respond to public health needs. She concurred with the view of the former Chairperson of the Council that, when the Council conducted the annual review of the System at its next meeting in October, reference could be made to the information contained, and issues identified, in the 2016 Annual Review11, as well as Annex II to the WTO Secretariat's Annual Report on its Technical Cooperation Activities.12 She announced her intention to consult Members in the coming months on how to prepare for a meaningful review.
39. The Chairperson invited the Secretariat to provide an update on IPR-related issues that had been considered in the context of individual Members' trade policy reviews.
40. The representative of the Secretariat took the floor.
41. The Council took note of the statement made.