H.E. Ambassador Dr Walter Werner

Bangladesh

16.4 WORK PROGRAMME ON E-COMMERCE

502.   My delegation would like to thank you for your effort. We are of the opinion that Ministers at MC11 gave us the mandate to continue the work under the 1998 Work Programme on Electronic Commerce. We understand that this Council is one of those four bodies which has been entrusted to examine specific issues. We strongly believe that we have the responsibility to carry out the mandate. Moreover, the TRIPS Council has the requirement to report to the General Council for the upcoming review in July. However, it is frustrating to observe that the Council has nothing to report to the General Council due to the fact that the e-commerce Work Programme was neither included on the agenda of the February session nor on the agenda of our current session. My delegation is convinced that e-commerce has been evolving rapidly and many issues have come into the debate, for example data, where the intellectual property right is an important subject to discuss. In addition, there has been a continuous innovation in the digital economy. Therefore, we need to better understand the importance of innovation and access to technology for spreading the benefit of ecommerce to all. 503.   Against this backdrop, my delegation proposes to include the Work Programme on eCommerce as a standing agenda item of this Council until the next Ministerial Session and to update the background document by the Secretariat, document IP/C/W/128/Add.1, in order to have a fruitful discussion at our next session. My delegation looks forward to a positive consideration of our request by the Council.

70.   The Chair recalled that, at the 11th Ministerial Conference (MC11), Ministers had agreed that the Work Programme on Electronic Commerce be continued, based on the existing mandate adopted by the General Council in September 1998. They had instructed the General Council to periodically review the work on the basis of reports to be submitted by the relevant WTO bodies. For the first such review in July 2018, the Chair of the General Council, Ambassador Ihara, had asked him to report on the work carried out in the TRIPS Council. To prepare for this, he had bilaterally discussed with some delegations whether they intended to discuss the Work Programme on E-Commerce at this meeting. In the informal consultations with a small group of Members last week, one delegation had raised the question as to how the TRIPS Council could best give the appropriate follow-up to the Ministerial Decision to continue the Work Programme on Electronic Commerce. Given that there had been no request for the inclusion of an ad hoc agenda item on ecommerce, the Chair invited delegations to share any views or ideas on this issue under "Other Business".
71.   The representatives of Bangladesh, the United States, Brazil, Benin, the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and the European Union took the floor.
72.   The Chair said that he would consult on how to move forward with regard to procedural matters.
73.   The Council took note of the statements made.
__________

IP/C/M/89, IP/C/M/89/Add.1