65. The representative of Switzerland said that his delegation approached this element similarly to the two previous elements, namely that this information would be useful for the administration of the system as well as for Members when handling geographical indications at the national level. However, such information should be voluntary and flexible enough not to prejudice Members' flexibilities under Article 1.1 of the TRIPS Agreement. Looking at the different proposals on the table, he said this did not seem to be a major point of divergence and wondered whether this could be moved up to the group of points of convergence. For example, the language used by the EC and Hong Kong, China proposals on this issue did not seem to be of a mandatory nature. The EC proposal only indicated that the information should be provided "where available". Similarly, the Hong Kong, China proposal referred to "any commencement or expiry date of protection", i.e. if there was any such date.
