260. The Chairman recalled that, at Doha, Ministers had instructed the TRIPS Council to put in place a mechanism for ensuring the monitoring and full implementation of the obligations under Article 66.2 of the TRIPS Agreement. The Ministers had also agreed that, to this end, developed country Members should submit, prior to the end of 2002, detailed reports on the functioning in practice of the incentives provided to enterprises for the transfer of technology in pursuance of the commitments under that Article. These submissions should be subject to a review in the TRIPS Council and information should be updated by Members annually. Therefore, the Doha Decision had set out a clear time-frame for the submission of these reports by developed country Members, namely by the end of 2002. He also recalled that, in response to a request to developed country Members to provide information on the implementation of their obligations under Article 66.2 of the TRIPS Agreement, many developed country Members had supplied information on this matter and the TRIPS Council had discussed these submissions. At its last meeting, the TRIPS Council had received a communication from least-developed countries containing considerations for the establishment of a monitoring mechanism under Article 66.2 of the TRIPS Agreement.
261. Given the need for early action to implement the Ministerial instruction and in the light of the suggestions and discussions in the TRIPS Council and informal consultations, he had circulated an informal note (JOB(02)/118) in which he had suggested a number of elements for the consideration of the Council that could form the basis of a decision on this matter. Since delegations might need more time to consider these suggestions, he suggested that the Council revert to the matter at its next meeting. He recalled that the Doha Decision called for detailed reports from each developed country Member by the end of the year 2002. Thus, he also suggested that developed country Members be requested to make such information available for the Council's meeting in November 2002. In doing so, they could be invited to use the guidelines contained in his informal note if they found them useful.
