113. The representative of the United States said that the thoughtful and thorough factual background paper of the Secretariat would provide an excellent starting-point for Members as they began to consider the issue. Associating himself with the comments of the delegations of the European Communities and Canada, he said that to further the work on the issue it could be appropriate for Members to be invited to submit their own observations on the issue and for the Council to be able to discuss those observations in future meetings. With respect to the questions raised by the delegation of Korea on the document with the symbol IP/C/16, he clarified that it was the intention of the United States ultimately to submit a separate document to the TRIPS Council, although that submission would be based on the same thoughts as those in the paper for the General Council. He believed that it would be appropriate if the interim report of the TRIPS Council to the General Council would reflect that the Secretariat's paper had been submitted to Members and would serve as a basis for further discussions along with any papers submitted by Members in the course of the discussions between the current meeting and July 1999.
