58. The representative of Malaysia said her delegation looked at the issues from the perspective of non-wine and spirit producers. Bearing in mind the possible ramification of costs and legal effects, Malaysia would support a system which was simple and non burdensome, with minimal costs and no legal effects. While non-wine and spirit producer countries would be unable to participate in the system in terms of the notification and registration process, Malaysia saw that it could, however, still use the system as a database for search purposes at a later stage when it would proceed to its national determination of GI protection. In this case, Malaysia would have an interest in the notification and registration process.
59. With regard to notification, she said that most notifications in the WTO were generally in a simple format and usually additional information was provided by the national contact points. Apart from notifications of legislation or legal reports which were voluminous, most of the other notifications were actually quite simple and were mainly presented in simple format; Malaysia would welcome notifications which were short summaries of the information to be provided. Supporting documents could, of course, be retrieved from the website; circulation to Members would hence not be necessary. This would cut down the costs. With regard to translation cost, which could be a big component of the overall cost of the system, Malaysia would appreciate this cost being borne by the notifying country.
60. Malaysia also saw a contradiction in terms of the challenge mechanism suggested by some Members when the end result was only a presumption of eligibility, which would create uncertainty with regard to the legal effects of the outcome of a challenge mechanism.
