H.E. Ambassador Lundeg Purevsuren

World Trade Organization

9 SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REVIEW UNDER PARAGRAPH 2 OF THE DECISION ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF ARTICLE 66.2 OF THE TRIPS AGREEMENT

211.   As described to this Council over the years of the development of the e-TRIPS platform, its function is to facilitate the work of delegations in using the established transparency processes. It therefore does not in itself prescribe or define any notification requirements or reporting requirements, as these are developed by Members in this Council. In establishing the e-TRIPS platform, we simply followed the existing practice of Members and the decisions of this body. That said, one of the observations to emerge from the workshop yesterday was an interest on the part of participants – both reporting and receiving Members - to improve the flow of information and to do what we can to make use of this platform to facilitate the sharing of information, and the matching of areas of need and priority on the part of LDCs and the capability of programmes in reporting countries to fulfil those needs. 212.   At the same time, we mentioned earlier today that the e-TRIPS platform is undergoing its phase 2 development, which is exactly about improving the user interface for the benefit of Members wishing to access and make use of this material. Therefore, these two lines of interest are related – first, stemming from the workshop, the interest in improving flow of information about Article 66.2 implementation, and, second, the overall effort to build a more useful, more user-friendly interface for the use of the material through the e-TRIPS platform generally. It seems these two aspects converge and therefore we take it that we have a responsibility as a Secretariat to consult actively with interested Members to look at the functionality and the operation of the system both generally - the development of the e-TRIPS platform as a means of consulting all TRIPS-related information – and specifically following up the workshop in the area of Article 66.2. In the period from the present day, leading up to the final meeting of the Council this year, we would propose, in both cases, open-ended consultations with Members - on the development of the e-TRIPS platform overall and, specifically, on the 66.2 element which was a particular focus of yesterday's workshop. 213.   To conclude, in developing the platform, we certainly have no role in defining or determining the reporting practices or requirements of Members that the function of the Council as such. We have simply followed existing practice and the directions of this Council and obviously that will continue to be the case. The consultations I have mentioned do not venture into that domain, but rather work on ways of creating a digital platform that is more responsive in a practical sense to the needs of delegations. I hope that makes sense. We do find it very valuable to sit down with Members in a practical spirit, and to map out the system's evolution in that manner. We will certainly be reaching out to Members with that distinction in mind in coming months.

The Council took note of the statements made.

25.   The Chair recalled that, at its meeting in October 2019, the Council had had on its agenda the 17th 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 updated reports submitted by developed country Members under Article 66.2. Since that meeting New Zealand had submitted its updated report. All updated reports had been circulated under IP/C/W/656 and addenda. At that meeting, the Council had also agreed that it would revert to the item at the present meeting to permit continued consideration of the submitted material.
26.   In order to give LDC Members more time to absorb the information provided by developed countries in their reports, and to ensure that these reports were available in the official languages of the WTO, the Article 66.2 Workshop had once again taken place back-to-back with the TRIPS Council meeting. This had allowed some of the capital-based delegates who had participated in the Workshop, to participate in the meeting and take part in the discussions under this agenda item.
27.   The LDC Group has circulated a Room document entitled, "Proposed New Template of annual Reporting on Technology Transfer to LDCs". This room document RD/IP/37 was available online on documents for meetings, and as a paper copy at the back of the meeting room. He noted that the English and French texts were both contained in the same document. He invited the Secretariat to report on the Workshop.
28.   A representative of the Secretariat took the floor.
29.   The Chair invited delegations to comment on the materials submitted for the last meeting, as well as to share their experiences from the Article 66.2 Workshop held in the past two days.
30.   The representatives of Chad, on behalf of the LDC Group; Bangladesh; the United Kingdom; Switzerland; the United States of America; Canada; the European Union; Japan; Norway; Vanuatu; Australia; and the African Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO) took the floor.
31.   The Council took note of the statements made.

IP/C/M/94, IP/C/M/94/Add.1