109. Concurring with the delegation of China that the adoption of the 2003 Decision had been a historical achievement, the representative of Cuba recognized the important progress that had been made in this area. In particular, past annual reviews had helped to clarify some of the issues raised with respect to the first use of the System to export medicines from Canada to Rwanda. She also acknowledged the existence of alternative solutions that could support Members with insufficient manufacturing capacities in the pharmaceutical sector to ensure access to medicines at reasonable prices. However, before the amendment to the TRIPS Agreement could be accepted and legislation to implement the System into national law be put in place, the practical aspects related to the use of the System had to be looked at. Those included the restrictions that potential exporting Members had introduced in their domestic legislation, which were not required by the System but which made it difficult to use it. She supported the proposal by China that an open-ended workshop be held to gather information and share experiences that would make it possible to assess the functioning of the System.
