83. The representative of New Zealand expressed general support for the joint proposal from Japan and the United States. It was in accordance with the system of registration and notification envisaged under Article 23.4 of the Agreement. Among his delegation's preliminary observations was, first of all, that the proposal did not appear to introduce a further layer of obligations for Members; it was simply an information register for Members. Second, the proposal fully recognized Article 23.1 of the Agreement, under which Members had implemented the obligations contained in the Agreement in relation to geographical indications in a variety of ways, and were entitled to do so as long as they were consistent with the Agreement. Third, the system proposed was voluntary in the sense that it had no implications for those Members who decided not to participate in it. Also, the proposal did not, at first glance, impose any undue burdens in terms of finances and resources on the Secretariat or Members. Lastly, the proposal appeared to recognize that, if there were any objection to the listing of a geographical indication by a participating Member, any such objection would need to be pursued via the domestic jurisdiction of the Member which had listed the purported geographical indication, without implications for the dispute settlement mechanism. This proposal broadly reflected the intent and language of Article 23.4 and was a workable proposal from a practical and administrative perspective. His delegation would like to note, however, that the proposal did refer to spirits and, as indicated previously, would question whether the incorporation of spirits within the notification and registration system envisaged by Article 23.4 was legitimate. The Singapore Declaration only referred to "preliminary work being undertaken on issues relevant to a system for spirits". This was a significant step removed from an amendment to Article 23.4 which would insert the words "and spirits" after the word "wines". Whilst fully recognizing that the Singapore Ministerial Declaration had in fact mandated Members to conduct preliminary work on spirits, his delegation did not believe that it meant that spirits were to be bracketed together with wines in relation to the negotiations referred to in Article 23.4. The proposal from Japan and the United States had moved the Council in the proper direction in relation to the system envisaged by Article 23.4 and formed the basis of a system that his delegation could support.
