134. The Chairman recalled that, at its meeting of 30 August 2003, the General Council had adopted the Decision on "Implementation of Paragraph 6 of the Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health" (WT/L/540) (hereinafter "Decision"). He said that its paragraph 11 provided that the Decision, including the waivers granted in it, shall terminate for each Member on the date on which an amendment to the TRIPS Agreement replacing its provisions takes effect for that Member. Furthermore, it instructed the TRIPS Council to initiate by the end of 2003 work on the preparation of such an amendment with a view to its adoption within six months, on the understanding that the amendment would be based, where appropriate, on the Decision and on the further understanding that it would not be part of the negotiations referred to in paragraph 45 of the Doha Ministerial Declaration. He informed the Council that the European Communities had submitted a communication (IP/C/W/416), which dealt with domestic implementation of the Decision and its transposition into an amendment of the TRIPS Agreement.
135. The Chairman indicated his intention to hold informal consultations on the matter in various formats, in small groups as well as in open-ended sessions, before the Council's next meeting. The purpose of these consultations would be to give delegates an opportunity to exchange views on the amendment and see how the Council could make progress on this issue.
