H.E. Ambassador Dr Walter Werner

Brazil

16.4 WORK PROGRAMME ON E-COMMERCE

505.   We thank the delegation of Bangladesh for the request. As you have mentioned, Ministers at MC11 issued the Decision emphasising the need to re-invigorating our work on the e-Commerce Work Programme. It mandates the four bodies which are referred there to examine and report on aspects of e-commerce pertaining to their activities. It therefore only makes sense to include this item on the agenda of our session, perhaps on an ad hoc basis, to continue to discuss this on a sustainable basis. We would also like to support the proposal by Bangladesh on updating the background document. 506.   While Brazil has no new document with regard to IP and e-commerce, I would like to take this opportunity to recall that we circulated document JOB/GC/113 dated 15 December 2016, cosponsored by Argentina. It's goal is to launch a comprehensive discussion of copyright management in the digital environment. The key motivation is to ensure that the fruits of the online environment are fully enjoyed by those who lie at the core of the copyright system, namely, authors and performers, and whose legitimate demand for a fair remuneration for the use of their works needs to be addressed by Members. 507.   We look forward to continuing these debates about e-commerce in order to find a common understanding and to provide the General Council with information necessary to consider the way forward on the matter.

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