187. The representative of the Secretariat updated the Council on the work of the Secretariat in supporting Members in the acceptance process. In view of the interest that had been expressed during the System's annual review in the Council's meeting in October 2010, the Secretariat had provided further information in order to help Members draw up their instruments of acceptance of the Protocol, based on the discussions that had been recorded in the minutes of that meeting. He stated that many delegations had sought practical information on procedures for the acceptance of the Protocol and that similar questions had often arisen in capacity building activities on TRIPS and public health. The Secretariat had therefore developed a webpage which described the acceptance procedure and provided a model instrument of acceptance.2
188. He recalled that a Member could accept the Protocol independent of domestic implementation of the Paragraph 6 System as the two actions were clearly distinct. Acceptance of the Protocol was a legal act whereby a Member expressed its consent that all Members were entitled to use the System. The process of acceptance needed to follow both the relevant Member's own constitutional requirements, and the content requirements which applied to the instrument of acceptance. A Member that wished to take advantage itself of the additional flexibilities provided in the Protocol might need to put in place implementing laws or regulations through normal domestic legislative and regulatory processes. On the other hand, the additional flexibilities under the Paragraph 6 System were already available under the waivers that had been provided in the 2003 Decision. A Member could therefore also choose to put in place domestic implementing legislation before having deposited its instrument of acceptance.
