73.   The significant work of delegations going into the submission of notifications is monitored and recognized in the Annual Report on Notifications and other Information Flows that the Secretariat prepares annually. This is the third year that we are preparing this overview and I hand over to my colleague Natalie Carlson who is primarily responsible for an introduction of this year's report. 74.   The Secretariat circulated a note entitled "Annual Report on Notifications and Other Information Flows" on 2 March 2023, carrying document symbol IP/C/W/696. This report updates the first two such reports, which were warmly received by Members in 2021 and 2022. Like those reports, this year's report offers a factual overview of submission rates and trends for each of the primary TRIPS transparency mechanisms: notifications of laws and regulations; contact points; responses to the checklist on enforcement, and checklists relating to the reviews under Articles 24.2 and 27.3(b). It also discusses developed Members' annual reports under Articles 66.2 and 67. 75.   The reports in this series are a continuation of the Secretariat's efforts to improve the factual information available to Members regarding the operation of the Council's transparency function. They seek to help Members make use of the publicly available e-TRIPS data, and to offer the Council for TRIPS a service of annual reporting on transparency mechanisms that is customary in other comparable WTO bodies. The current report covers submissions circulated from 1995 to the end of 2022, with a particular emphasis on 2022 submissions. 76.   Following a brief introduction, the Report begins by updating Members on the rate at which they have taken up the e-TRIPS system. Since its 2019 launch, Members have increasingly opted to use the e-TRIPS Submission System to efficiently make transparency-related submissions to the Council online. In 2022, 86% of submitting Members used the system to submit 95% of all submissions. 77.   The companion e-TRIPS Gateway, in turn, also continued to grow as a popular resource for Members who seek to access and analyse the data contained in Members' submissions. The number of daily page views for the Gateway nearly doubled from 2021 to 2022. 78.   Having updated Members on e-TRIPS usage, the report then addresses each TRIPS transparency mechanism in turn in section 3. Each sub-section begins with a brief overview of the nature of the commitment (which stems either from the TRIPS Agreement itself, or subsequent decisions of this Council), and then summarizes the submissions circulated since 1995, with an emphasis on those circulated in the last year. We identify discernible trends and offer supporting charts, graphs, and tables. I will highlight a few key points related to each transparency mechanism on the next few slides. 79.   First, with respect to notifications under Article 63.2 of the Agreement, it is evident that from 1995 through 2002 Members exerted significant efforts to submit initial notifications of their laws and regulations. However, given the ongoing nature of these obligations, and Members' continuously evolving IP systems, fewer notifications of subsequent and revised legislation have been received than would be expected. 36% of Members subject to the Article 63.2 obligation have not notified a new or amended law or regulation in over 15 years. 80.   Although the total number of submitted laws and regulations declined in 2022 after the United Kingdom completed its considerable two- year effort to update its legislation, 2022 saw a record level of Member engagement. More Members – 30, or 18% of the membership – notified a law or regulation in 2022 than in any year since 2004. The notifying Members come from diverse regions around the globe and are at different stages of development. Significantly one-third of those who notified a law or regulation in 2022 did so for the first time in 10 or more years – recognizing that it is never too late to reengage and reinvigorate the monitoring function of the Council for TRIPS. 81.   We also observed more activity in 2022 with respect to the companion checklist of issues on enforcement. The blue trend line on this slide, showing the cumulative number of Members who have submitted responses, is fairly flat from 2002, indicating that most Members submitted their initial responses over 20 years ago. The yellow trend line, showing the cumulative number of updates received, ticked upward in 2022 after two Members, Switzerland and El Salvador, updated their earlier responses – the first such submissions since 2019. 82.   The data also show that some contact point submissions may be in need of updating. Most Members under the obligation to notify contact points under Articles 69 and 67 of the Agreement have done so, but over 50% were submitted more than 10 years ago – and some date back over 20 years. Ten members submitted new or updated Article 69 contact points for cooperation on IP enforcement in 2022, 3 times more than in 2021. But only one Member, Austria, updated its contact point for technical cooperation under Article 67. 83.   In addition to notifications, the report also provides information regarding developed Members' annual reports and information submitted pursuant to built-in reviews. Developed Members are to submit annual reports on actions taken or planned in pursuit of their commitment under Article 66.2 to provide incentives to enterprises and institutions for the purpose of promoting and encouraging technology transfer to LDCs. Developed Members have also agreed to annually report on programmes and projects undertaken to provide technical and financial cooperation in favour of developing and LDC Members under Article 67. The report identifies the number of these reports that were received each year, as well as the frequency with which individual Members have submitted reports. During the 2022 reporting cycle, 16 developed Members reported programmes under Article 66.2, one more than the prior year, and 15 developed Members reported programmes under Article 67, two more than the prior year. 84.   The final transparency mechanisms addressed in the report relate to the Council's review under Article 24.2 of the application of the TRIPS Section on geographical indications, and the review under Article 27.3(b), relating to domestic frameworks for protecting biotechnology inventions and new plant varieties. The data show only sporadic submissions since Members first agreed to provide information in support of these reviews over twenty years ago. In 2022, Switzerland submitted updated responses to the checklist of questions in the context of the review under Article 24.2. No responses were received to the checklist of questions in the context of the review under Article 27.3(b). There is potential for more engagement in both of these reviews – fewer than one-third of Members have submitted responses to the checklist established by the Council under Article 24.2, and fewer than one-sixth of Members have submitted responses to the checklists established under the Council's review of Article 27.3(b). 85.   Much more information on each of the transparency mechanisms introduced during this brief presentation, as well as information on less frequent ad hoc notifications, can be found in the report itself. Detailed tables in the Annex to the report supplement the main text by offering data by submission type and by individual Member. 86.   We trust that this document will assist Members in enhancing the benefits of the transparency mechanisms set up under the TRIPS Agreement and by decisions of this Council. We encourage Members to review the report closely and to contact us with any questions regarding the data or the procedures for making a notification or other submission.