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

H.E. Ambassador Xolelwa Mlumbi-Peter
World Trade Organization
15.3 IPR-RELATED ISSUES IN TRADE POLICY REVIEWS AND THE DIRECTOR-GENERAL'S MONITORING REPORTS

603.   As in previous occasions and for Members' information, the Secretariat will provide a brief update of the issues related to intellectual property policy that have come up in the most recent Trade Policy Reviews. 604.   Since the last TRIPS Council Meeting in February, the Trade Policy Reviews of the European Union, Australia and Japan have taken place. These three reviews covered a very wide range of intellectual property and related trade policy issues. Developed and developing-country Members actively registered their continuing interest in TRIPS-related issues. In particular, they sought details on:  Composition of IP assets;  Reform of the copyright regime;  Protection of Indigenous Cultural Intellectual Property;  Modernization of the trademark regime and the protection of olfactory or taste marks;  Geographical indications and the GI regime for non-agricultural products;  Patent regime, supplementary patent certificates and patent extension;  Compulsory licenses;  Implementation of the Protocol Amending the TRIPS Agreement;  Protection of test data;  Regulation applicable to genetic resources accessed in Parties of the Nagoya Protocol;  Protection of trade secrets;  Enforcement, online and at the border;  Anticompetitive practices;  Technical assistance and cooperation programmes implemented in the framework of Article 66.2 of the TRIPS Agreement;  Programmes to support IP management by Small and Medium Enterprises; and  Accession and implementation of WIPO instruments. 605.   The Secretariat has also contributed to the G20 and WTO wide DirectorGeneral Roberto Azevêdo's Monitoring Reports. The G20 report was circulated on 29 June 2020 and the WTO-wide report has been available since 24 July 2020. The WTO-wide report covers developments on trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights (TRIPS), including the information on developments in domestic legislation and administrative issues submitted for the monitoring exercise by Australia, Azerbaijan, Canada, Chile, India, Indonesia, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Chinese Taipei and Ukraine. 606.   On this occasion, the reports also include a sub-section on the specific IP-related measures aimed at facilitating the development and dissemination of COVID-19-related health technologies, as well as at relaxing procedural requirements and extending deadlines for administrative IP matters. The table containing these measures is regularly updated and available on the WTO website, as was discussed under agenda item 3 [when a number of these COVID-related measures were described by Members].

The Council took note of the information provided.
64.   The Chair invited the Secretariat to report on IP-related issues that had been considered in the context of individual Members' trade policy reviews.
65.   A representative of the Secretariat took the floor.
66.   The representative of Canada took the floor.
67.   The Council took note of the information provided.
IP/C/M/95, IP/C/M/95/Add.1