263. The Chairman recalled that, at Doha, the Ministerial Conference had adopted a Decision on Implementation-Related Issues and Concerns (WT/MIN(01)/17). Paragraph 11.1 of the Decision stated: "The TRIPS Council is directed to continue its examination of the scope and modalities for complaints of the types provided for under subparagraphs 1(b) and 1(c) of Article XXIII of GATT 1994 and make recommendations to the Fifth Session of the Ministerial Conference. It is agreed that, in the meantime, Members will not initiate such complaints under the TRIPS Agreement." Thus, the TRIPS Council had a time-frame for its work, namely that it should be in a position to make recommendations to the fifth Ministerial Conference, to be held in Cancún, Mexico in September 2003. As requested by the TRIPS Council at its meeting in March 2002, the Secretariat had circulated prior to the June meeting in document IP/C/W/349 a summary note of the points raised in the substantive discussion of this agenda item so far. At that time, he had also circulated an annotated agenda in document JOB(02)/66 raising a number of questions that Members might wish to address. However, at the June meeting, the Council had not had enough time to adequately discuss this item.
264. In order to be able to prepare recommendations, the TRIPS Council would need to have specific proposals from delegations, and have fully discussed them sufficiently in advance of the fifth Ministerial, so that Members had a clear picture of the options available and their implications. He suggested that the first meeting of the Council in 2003 be set as a target date for the submission of proposals while the Council might continue its discussion of the matter on the basis of the annotated agenda still at the November meeting. However, he said that this would not preclude earlier papers which he encouraged Members to submit, or later ones in an effort to find common ground.
265. The Chairman said that the Council had just received a communication from Peru on behalf of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Cuba, Ecuador, Egypt, Malaysia, Pakistan, Peru, Sri Lanka and Venezuela.
