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

H.E. Ambassador Dr. Walter Werner
9   FOLLOW-UP TO THE SIXTEENTH ANNUAL REVIEW UNDER PARAGRAPH 2 OF THE DECISION ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF ARTICLE 66.2 OF THE TRIPS AGREEMENT
171.   Senegal would like to react to a few observations made by the European Union and the United States on the idea of having focal points at the developed and LDC level. We are fully aware that it is not easy to ensure coordination of the whole set of structures and projects carry out for the implementation of Article 66.2. This require even more efforts in regard of payments. Some delegations mentioned during the Workshop experiencing some difficulties verifying the whole set of projects that were listed in the reports. But we think that this is a good starting point and it would be useful in this context to have focal points so that we can centralize and also to be able to respond at the WTO level. 172.   In the workshop, during the Q&A session, some delegations that presented reports were not always able to reply to the questions following the presentation of the reports. Perhaps information was not available or the entities responsible for implementation at country level would have to be addressed directly. For example, there is Japan and other entities that are relevant to those contexts. It is our view that having focal points could help us resolve these challenges. LDCs stand ready to establishes this and we think that will be easier for developed country Members who have greater means for coordination than the LDCs do. To ensure that this happen, we would happily discuss this in an agreed date with the concerned delegations. On this proposal, and to improve our efforts.
28.   The Chair recalled that, at the previous meeting in November 2018, the Council had on its agenda the Sixteenth Annual Review under Paragraph 2 of the Decision on the Implementation of Article 66.2 of the TRIPS Agreement. At that meeting, delegations had briefly presented the reports submitted by developed country Members under Article 66.2(IP/C/W/646 and Addenda) as well as a proposal by the LDC Group entitled "Proposal on the Implementation of Article 66 of the TRIPS Agreement" (IP/C/W/640 and IP/RD/24). The Council had agreed that it would revert to the item at its next meeting to permit continued consideration of the submitted material.
29.   In order to give LDCs more time to absorb the information provided by developed countries in their reports, and also to ensure that those reports were available in the official languages of the WTO, the Article 66.2 Workshop, which would have usually been held in November 2018, had been postponed. The Workshop had taken place in the two days preceding the meeting of the Council. Some of the capital-based delegates, who had participated in that Workshop would participate in the discussions under this agenda item. He invited delegations to comment on the materials that had been submitted for the meeting that had taken place in November 2018 and to share their experiences from the Article 66.2 Workshop.
30.   The representatives of Chad, on behalf of the LDC Group, the Central African Republic, Senegal, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Vanuatu, Japan, Australia, Switzerland, the United States of America, Norway, New Zealand, the European Union, Canada and the African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO) took the floor.
IP/C/M/91, IP/C/M/91/Add.1, IP/C/M/91/Corr.1