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

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1. Meeting date

2. Chairperson

H.E. Ambassador Dr. Lansana GBERIE

3. Intervention by

World Trade Organization

4. Agenda item

15.2 20TH ANNUAL REVIEW UNDER PARAGRAPH 2 OF THE DECISION ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF ARTICLE 66.2 OF THE TRIPS AGREEMENT

5. Statement/summary of statement

309.   The Secretariat is now planning to organize the annual Workshop on the Implementation of Article 66.2 of the TRIPS Agreement in early 2023. The exact dates and programme will be communicated to Members at the later stage. 310.   As you might recall that, to assist with the Secretariat's preparations for this annual workshop, we have invited LDC Members to answer a survey questionnaire on current areas of needs and priorities for technology transfer in their respective countries since 2021. Since then, we have received responses from 18 LDC Members. The detailed survey results have been presented to our Members in the annual workshops in 2021 and 2022. The survey results have been very valuable in guiding the Secretariat in preparing the annual workshop and to ensure that the workshop are grounded in the practical needs of the LDC Members concerned. 311.   At the TRIPS Council's meeting of March this year, the LDC Group requested the Secretariat to compile a list of priority technologies as identified by the LDCs in the annual workshops, as well as in the survey questionnaire and to report this to the next TRIPS Council meeting. They also indicated that the information provided should be of use to the Secretariat in designing future technical assistance programmes, and to the reporting countries for their attention. 312.   Upon this request, the WTO Secretariat has started to compile these responses received from 18 LDC Members. After the consultation with the LDC Group, we have circulated the updated survey questionnaire among LDC Members and invited them to answer the questionnaire by 2 September 2022 through their respective permanent missions in Geneva. This will allow the Secretariat to have a sufficient time to prepare a comprehensive compilation of the survey results and to prepare the workshop the programme according to the needs and priorities identified by the LDC Members. It will also enable the reporting countries to have sufficient time to prepare their contributions to this annual workshop. 313.   Last, I would like to emphasise that the survey questionnaire is an optional tool to assist with preparations for the annual workshop. It has no bearing on WTO Members' rights and obligations under the WTO TRIPS Agreement.

6. Documents referred to in intervention

7. Conclusion

The Council agreed to proceed as indicated and took note of the information provided.

8. Summary of the agenda item (if available)

75. The Chair recalled that Paragraph 1 of the Decision provided that developed country Members should submit annually reports on actions taken or planned in pursuance of their commitments under Article 66.2 and for this purpose, they must provide new detailed reports every third year and, in the intervening years, provide updates to their most recent reports. As 2022 was an intervening year, developed country Members were expected to provide updates to their reports. Paragraph 2 of the Decision provided that the Council should review these reports at the last meeting of the year.
76. The Chair suggested that the developed country Members submit their reports by 12 September 2022 – i.e., the same date as the deadline for submission of Technical Assistance Reports. This submission date was about four weeks before the last TRIPS Council meeting of the year, which was scheduled for 12-13 October 2022, and would therefore allow for timely circulation of the documents. The kind of information to be provided in the reports was specified in paragraph 3 of the Decision. He stated that, in the past, Members had considered some practical approaches to streamlining their submission and management of this information.
77. The Chair suggested that reporting members use the e-TRIPS Submission System to submit this information, just as with reports under Article 67. Members who had used e-TRIPS to submit their reports in prior years could take advantage of system efficiencies to save time in preparing this year's reports. He suggested that those who were yet to submit their reports via e-TRIPS to overcome their hesitancy in order to improve the accessibility of this valuable information via the e- TRIPS Gateway. He said that the Secretariat had created guidance materials and was available to provide practical advice on request.
78. The Chair informed Members that the Secretariat was planning for the 15th Workshop on Technology Transfer back-to-back with the Council's meeting in early 2023. He said that the Secretariat would be in touch with the delegations concerned to prepare for the Workshop.
79. The representative of the Secretariat took the floor.
80. The Council agreed to proceed as indicated and took note of the information provided.

9. Document symbol and date of distribution

IP/C/M/105, IP/C/M/105/Add.1, IP/C/M/105/Corr.1
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