43. The Chair recalled that the Council had regularly conducted annual reviews of technical cooperation and capacity-building activities at its end-of-year meeting and that these reviews were based on reports submitted by developed country Members, international organizations, and the WTO Secretariat.
44. The representative of the Secretariat stated that this review was usually conducted at the Council's last meeting of the year. Developed country Members were invited to submit information on their activities pursuant to Article 67 of the TRIPS Agreement. Other Members who also engaged in technical cooperation were encouraged to share information if they so wish. Intergovernmental organizations with observer status in the TRIPS Council, as well as the WTO Secretariat, were also invited to report on their relevant activities. The requested written information should be made available four weeks prior to the next meeting, in order to allow timely circulation. In view of the dates of the next TRIPS Council meeting scheduled for 12-13 October 2022, he suggested that written information be submitted by 12 September 2022 by using the e-TRIPS notification submission system (NSS).
45. As explained at previous occasions, submitting the information through the e-TRIPS NSS meant that the full search functionality of the e-TRIPS gateway would be available and the information provided could be searched and interrogated according to providing Member, beneficiary, timeline or topic. If the information was submitted outside the e-TRIPS submission system, the information was then available in e-TRIPS but could not be searched in the same manner, hence the encouragement to use the e-TRIPS submission system.
46. The Chair suggested to proceed in line with this practice and conduct the next such review at the October meeting which was agreed by the Council.
47. The Chair noted that the documentation provided on this topic had been usually quite extensive, and that in order to ensure a streamlined and systematic approach to the management of this information, the use of the e-TRIPS Submissions System was advised for the convenient preparation of such submissions both in capital and at the Geneva missions. The Secretariat was available to provide support and background to delegations for the use of this system and could be contacted through the usual email .
48. The Chair recalled that at the last TRIPS Council meetings in October 2021 and last March, it was suggested that the Secretariat consider organizing a workshop on technical cooperation and capacity building in the same manner as it had organized the workshop on incentives for technology transfer under Article 66.2 in recent years. He said that in response to this request, the Secretariat was exploring the possibility of such a workshop to be held in the margins of a TRIPS Council meeting next year and that more information would be provided as plans for such a workshop concretize.
49. The Chair drew attention to a joint trilateral website that had been set up with the WTO's sister organizations. This WHO-WIPO-WTO COVID-19 Technical Assistance Platform aimed to help Members and WTO accession candidates address their capacity-building needs to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. It offered a one-stop shop for Members to facilitate and provide timely and tailored technical assistance, upon request, in making full use of all available options to access vaccines, medicines and technologies, including through coordination and exchange between Members facing similar challenges. Information on this platform could be found on the websites of the three organizations and that there was also some printed material at the back of the room.
50. The representatives of Bangladesh; Republic of Moldova and World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) took the floor.
51. The Council took note of the statements and agreed to revert to the item at its next meeting.
