81. The Chairperson, reviewing her period in office, said that, notwithstanding the Council's other activities related to notifications, aspects of the built-in agenda in the area of geographical indications, technical cooperation and assistance and consultations on specific issues, one of the most important tasks tackled by the Council had been the review of legislation notified by those Members that were already obliged to comply with all the provisions of the Agreement, a task which had taken up most of the time in the Council's sessions since 1996. During her Chairmanship, the Council had reviewed, in May 1997, legislation on patents, layout-designs (topographies) of integrated circuits, protection of undisclosed information and the control of anti-competitive practices in contractual licences and, in November 1997, completed the process with the review of legislation on enforcement of intellectual property rights. A large amount of information had been generated through this review process which the Secretariat had been compiling as the follow-up phase concluded. This had been a very important contribution to ensuring compliance with the requirements of transparency contained in the Agreement. In future, consideration would have to be given as to how best to take advantage of this valuable information both in the WTO as well as in other fora. From this exercise, she had observed how the protection given by intellectual property systems represented a balance between incentives to intellectual creation and fair competition, on the one hand, and the interests of users, on the other, and that it was up to each country to reconcile these interests within the framework given by the TRIPS Agreement pursuant to its objectives in terms of attracting foreign investment, technology transfer and the promotion of local creativity and innovation. The exercise which the Council had just completed would have to be reinitiated once the transitional periods established in the Agreement expired but, at that time, a much greater number of countries would be covered. Consequently, the job faced by delegations, the Secretariat and undoubtedly the Chairperson as well, would be more difficult. In her Chairmanship, she had been pleased to see that many Members who had benefited from a transitional period had begun their domestic procedures to fully adapt their systems to the standards provided for in the Agreement. This review process had made it possible for them to understand more fully the options for doing so, thus facilitating adaptation of their legislation. This led her to have confidence that the review process for the legislation of these countries which would begin in 2000 would be just as successful and would be completed within the time frames to be decided. She considered that the establishment of minimum international standards for the protection of intellectual property rights such as those contained in the TRIPS Agreement constituted an important element not only to facilitate the free trade of goods and services, but also to facilitate investment flows and to guarantee fair competition in markets. This Agreement provided the multilateral system not only with these minimum standards but also with standards for enforcement of these rights and with the framework to solve any conflicts which might arise in the application of such standards, elements which she felt would have to be preserved. As her term of office came to a close, she thanked all delegations for their contribution and their cooperation. She thanked the Secretariat for its timely counsel and effective support and she thanked the interpreters for their patience and their efforts made in each one of the Council sessions.
82. Turning to the election of the next Chairperson of the Council for TRIPS, the Chairperson recalled that the Chair of the General Council had carried out informal consultations on a slate of names for appointment as Chairpersons of various WTO bodies, in accordance with the established guidelines for election of officers and that, at its meeting of 19 February 1998, the General Council had taken note of the proposed nominations. On the basis of the understandings reached, she proposed that the Council for TRIPS elect H.E. Ambassador István Major of Hungary as Chairperson of this body by acclamation.
