16.3. The Chairman recalled that, at its meetings in June 2010 and November 2012, the Council had agreed to grant ad hoc observer status on a meeting-to-meeting basis to the African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO), the African Intellectual Property Organization (OAPI), the Cooperation Council of the Arab States of the Gulf (GCC), and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA). He suggested that the Council again invite these organizations to attend the Council's next formal meeting on an ad hoc basis.
