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

Mr. S. Harbinson (Hong Kong)
B.2.i Procedures for giving effect to the obligation to notify implementing legislation under Article 63.2
18. The representative of Uruguay thanked the Chairman for submitting the working hypothesis. While his delegation needed some time to analyse it and wished to revert to it at a later stage, his first impression was that the approach taken was correct. He had no objection to it being used as a working hypothesis and as a basis for contacts with the International Bureau of WIPO or between the two Secretariats. The possibility of a common register or some similar mechanism for cooperation in the area of notifications between the two Organizations should be looked into rapidly. He emphasized that it was necessary to avoid duplication and not to overburden Members. He expressed his delegation's support for a schedule for dealing with the notifications, taking into account the difficulties of those Members whose national language was not one of the WTO languages and the large volume of notifications due next year. He also drew attention to the burden for the Secretariat in this context and the immediate budgetary implications that this might have which, in his delegation's view, were an additional reason to speed up the work and contacts with the WIPO with a view to seeking a common mechanism for notifications. This would be beneficial not only for the Members of the WTO but also for the operation of the Secretariat and the Council. There should also be an option to use laws included in the WIPO collections in complying with the notification requirements.
IP/C/M/2