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

Ambassador W. Armstrong (New Zealand)
C.i Notifications under Article 63.2
9. The Chairman recalled that the delegation of Hungary had informed the Council, at the September meeting, that it had communicated Hungary's main laws and regulations in the area of industrial property to the Secretariat. Hungary had made its notification taking into account the procedures for notifications under Article 63.2 as adopted by the Council in November 1995. In the processing of this notification and the distribution of the texts of the laws and regulations in question, priority had been given to those laws and regulations made available in a WTO language which were relevant to the review of national implementing legislation to be carried out during the present meeting. Notifications had also been received from Cyprus, Nigeria, Romania, Swaziland and Uganda. The notifications from Romania and Uganda, which had been made with reference to the entitlements these Members claimed under Article 65 of the Agreement, were being processed and would be available as documents IP/N/1/ROM/1 and IP/N/1/UGA/1. The other notifications mentioned still required some clarification and would be processed as soon as possible. 10. The Chairman also referred to the cross-reference tables that the delegation of Japan had notified with a view to enhancing the efficiency of the review of national implementing legislation. The table relating to the area of copyright and related rights had been distributed in document IP/Q/JPN/1, as part of the record of the review of the legislation notified by Japan under Article 63.2. The other tables, regarding the areas of trademarks, geographical indications, industrial designs and patents, had been circulated in document IP/N/1/JPN/1/Add.2. 11. Informing the Council about the status of notifications by Members as required by Article 63.2 in combination with Article 65.1 of the Agreement, the Chairman said that, although most of the material due had been made available, there were still missing elements. Several main dedicated laws and regulations were not yet available in a WTO language and in some cases notifications had not been accompanied by the texts of the laws and regulations in question. He urged the Members in question to give the necessary priority to complementing their notification under Article 63.2 in this respect. As regards the checklist of issues on enforcement, eight Members had submitted responses. He recalled his statements at the July and September meetings and urged developed country Members which had not yet done so to notify these responses soon and in any case before the end of the year.
IP/C/M/11