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

H.E. Ambassador Dr Walter Werner
16.4 WORK PROGRAMME ON E-COMMERCE
508.   We thank Bangladesh for making this proposal. As Brazil reminded us previously, our Ministers in Buenos Aires called for the work under the 1998 Work Programme to be reinvigorated. This was the outcome of consensus. And yet Members that were present at the Ministerial Conference now object to the inclusion of this item on the agenda. We do not find it very comfortable to have to have a discussion on this again. Ministers have already decided this. We are meant to continue with this Work Programme: it is set forth already, that is our mandate. It is up to the Council to take the necessary measures in order to accomplish this mandate. The Council is one of the WTO bodies that was selected to look at specific aspects of electronic commerce that were relevant in the context of the Work Programme. Therefore, it goes without saying that this item is and has to be on the agenda. Our delegation strongly recommends that this item be included on the agenda in conformity with the existing mandate.
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