62. The Chairperson recalled that paragraph 11 of the Decision on "Implementation of Paragraph 6 of the Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health" (WT/L/540) (hereinafter "the Decision") provided that the TRIPS Council should initiate by the end of 2003 work on the preparation of an amendment to the TRIPS Agreement to replace its provisions with a view to its adoption within six months, i.e. by June 2004. Accordingly, the TRIPS Council had taken up the matter at its last meeting in 2003 and again at its meetings earlier 2004. In addition, the two previous Chairs of the Council had consulted actively with delegations. These consultations had indicated that there seemed to remain significant differences among delegations in regard to the substantive content and the legal form that an amendment to replace the paragraph 6 Decision should have, although many delegations had emphasized that they remained ready to consider alternative solutions.
63. At its meeting in June, the Council had agreed to continue its work on the preparation of the amendment with a view to the TRIPS Council making a recommendation by the end of March 2005 so that the General Council could conclude its work on the amendment at its first meeting thereafter. At the time the former Chair had proposed this arrangement at the Council's last meeting, he had made it clear that the suggestion did not exclude the Council agreeing earlier than March 2005 and that obviously he had hoped that this would be the case. He had also made it clear that, in order to meet the new timeframe, the Council would need to work expeditiously and purposefully, starting with its September meeting and he had expressed his confidence that there was readiness on the part of delegations to do this. The former Chair had informed the General Council of these arrangements at its meeting on 27 July 2004.
64. The Chairperson also recalled that paragraph 8 of the Decision provided that the Council for TRIPS should review annually the functioning of the system set out in the Decision with a view to ensuring its effective operation and should annually report on its operation to the General Council. The Council would need to conduct its first annual review at its meeting scheduled for 1 3 December 2004. She then drew the attention of the Council to a new submission from Norway (IP/C/W/427), which contained information on Norway's implementation of the Decision.
