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

Ambassador W. Armstrong (New Zealand)
I Review of the application of the provisions of the Section on geographical indications under Article 24.2
60. Concluding the discussion, the Chairman said that the Council already had before it a number of proposals and that others could be expected as had been foreshadowed, for example, in the statements by India, Switzerland and the Czech Republic. At the same time, as pointed out by several delegations, Members would also need time to digest the information which had emerged from the review of national implementing legislation relating to geographical indications. In regard to the nature of the Council's future work, there seemed to be a variety of divergent views and, in the circumstances, he proposed that the Council take note of the statements that had been made and agree to give further consideration to how the issue of reviewing the application of the provisions of the Section on geographical indications under Article 24.2 would be handled. He proposed to do this through informal consultations in the first instance which, in view of various commitments before the Singapore Ministerial, would take place early next year. The timing of those consultations would also need to take into account the timeframe in which delegations which had promised to table proposals were able to make them available.
IP/C/M/11