109. The Chairman informed delegations that, as had been agreed at the Council's open-ended informal meeting on 23 May, he had reported to the General Council, at its meeting on 26 May, that the preparation of an amendment to the TRIPS Agreement pursuant to paragraph 11 of the General Council decision on the "Implementation of Paragraph 6 of the Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health" (hereinafter referred to as "the Decision") continued to be actively under consideration in the TRIPS Council. However, more time was necessary before the Council was in a position to make a recommendation, and that the Council would revert to this matter at its present meeting.
110. He recalled that, at the open-ended consultation of 23 May, he had shared with delegations his assessment of the situation regarding the preparation of an amendment in the light of the consultations he had held. At that time, there had not been a great deal of discussion about how to find a way forward and some delegations had indicated that they wished to reflect further before reacting. Since then, he had continued his consultations in various formats on this matter. However, they had not yielded any new thinking for him to share with delegations. Some African delegations had referred to the Declaration adopted by the African Union Conference of Trade Ministers in Cairo the previous week, which called for "urgent attention" to be given to the amendment of the TRIPS Agreement to incorporate the Decision. These delegations had expressed the hope that the Council could complete its work on the amendment before the summer break.
111. He had not detected any objection to his suggestion that he continue his consultations on this matter with a view to agreeing on a recommendation as soon as possible, having regard to the hope expressed by some delegations that this be done before the summer break. He added that, however, he needed the active cooperation and flexibility of all delegations for this to be possible.
