Ambassador Al-Otaibi (Kingdom of Saudi-Arabia) and Ambassador Alfredo Suescum (Panama)

Suiza

7 REVIEW UNDER PARAGRAPH 8 OF THE DECISION ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF PARAGRAPH 6 OF THE DOHA DECLARATION ON THE TRIPS AGREEMENT AND PUBLIC HEALTH

122. We would first like to congratulate Brunei Darussalam, Iceland, Kenya, Lao PDR, Moldova, Sri Lanka, and St. Kitts and Nevis for notifying the WTO of their acceptance of the Protocol Amending the TRIPS Agreement. 123. Switzerland seizes the opportunity to encourage Members who have not yet notified their acceptance to undertake the necessary steps and proceed so that the required acceptance by two thirds of WTO Members may be met and that the Protocol can enter into force. The Paragraph 6 system is a significant mechanism. Its goal is to put those WTO Members on a level playing field with the other WTO Members that do not have manufacturing capacity in the pharmaceutical sector. It enables those Members to make use of the flexibility offered by Article 31 TRIPS, thereby filling the shortfall of this article. 124. As the Director General stressed in his letter to the WTO Members last February, acceptance of the Protocol is a concrete contribution that WTO Members can make to global efforts to strengthen the legal framework for access to medicines. We would also like to remind that the procedure of acceptance of the Protocol is straightforward, as was just explained by the Secretariat. The WTO Secretariat's website provides helpful information on the procedure in general and the few formalities that apply. 125. My delegation thus calls on all those WTO Members who have not yet done so, to proceed with their acceptance of the Protocol without further delay. 126. As for the proposal for a multi-stakeholder symposium, taken up by a number of delegations, in order to discuss the workability of the Paragraph 6 mechanism and associating therefore a broad range of WTO external stakeholders, we consider this premature. We have not heard from potential beneficiary Members whether at all they face specific obstacles, and if so, which ones, when wishing to make use of the Paragraph 6 mechanism. Before having heard about such concerns and problems from beneficiary WTO Members, we see neither the need nor the merits of considering including external stakeholders to the Council’s discussion. Experience sharing should in the first place be deepened in this Council.

The Council took note of the statements made.

7.1. The Chairman recalled that paragraph 8 of the waiver Decision provided that the Council for TRIPS shall review annually the functioning of the system set out in the Decision with a view to ensuring its effective operation and shall annually report on its operation to the General Council. Furthermore, the paragraph provided that this review shall be deemed to fulfil the review requirements of Article IX:4 of the WTO Agreement.

7.2. He said that the records of the Council's earlier reviews continued to provide a unique and valuable resource for understanding this important measure. This included the records of the reviews in 2010 and 2011 when the Council had held a more structured debate on the basis of lists of topics for the discussion that had been agreed in advance. These earlier records and lists of topics might also inform discussions at the present review. If Members felt that any questions posed at earlier reviews regarding the Paragraph 6 System itself or possible alternatives to it were not adequately addressed at those reviews, they should feel free to revert to any such questions.

7.3. The Secretariat had prepared a draft cover note for the Council's report modelled on previous years' reports (circulated as JOB/IP/13). He suggested that the Council take up the preparation of its report to the General Council after it had exhausted its discussion. The cover note of the report contained a list of Members that had notified their acceptance of the Protocol Amending the TRIPS Agreement (WT/L/641). The following Members had deposited their instruments of acceptance since the Council's last meeting in June: Moldova on 7 July, Kenya on 21 July, Saint Kitts and Nevis on 27 July, Sri Lanka on 9 September, Lao People's Democratic Republic on 29 September, and Iceland on 12 October.

7.4. The Chairman further recalled that the Protocol had been originally open for acceptance by Members until 1 December 2007. Upon proposals by the Council for TRIPS, the General Council had four times extended this period for further two-year periods. At present, the period ran until 31 December 2015. The TRIPS amendment would enter into force once two thirds of the membership had accepted it. For this to happen, another 21 instruments of acceptance needed to be deposited with the Director-General. He strongly encouraged those Members, especially developing country Members, who were yet to complete their domestic procedures to do as soon as possible. If needed, the Secretariat could assist Members concerned regarding the steps that were required in order to accept the Protocol.

7.5. The representative of the WTO Secretariat took the floor.

7.6. The Chairman noted that the vast majority of Members that had already deposited their instrument of acceptance had done so before adopting implementing legislation, if at all, which was not required by the amendment.

7.7. He reported that, at the informal meeting on 14 October 2015, some delegations had reiterated the proposal that a workshop open to all stakeholders be jointly organized by the WTO, WHO and WIPO as part of their trilateral cooperation. While other delegations had indicated their readiness, in principle, to consider such a proposal, they had asked for more information regarding the issues to be covered by such a workshop. He encouraged the proponents to explore the proposal in their direct contacts with other delegations.

7.8. The representatives of Canada, India, Australia, Cuba, Chinese Taipei, Egypt, Brazil, Indonesia, Thailand, Chile, the European Union, New Zealand, Ecuador, Switzerland, Japan, the United States, Bangladesh on behalf of the LDC Group, South Africa, and Uganda took the floor.

7.9. The Council took note of the statements made.

7.10. Turning to the draft cover note for the Council's report (circulated as JOB/IP/13), the Chairman said that, in accordance with the way that the Council had prepared its reports in the previous years, the part of the minutes of the meeting that reflected the discussions held under this agenda item might be attached to the cover note. He also suggested that the report be updated in order to take account of the instruments of acceptance that had been deposited since the circulation of the initial draft report.

7.11. He said that the Protocol had originally been open for acceptance by Members until 1 December 2007. At present, the period ended on 31 December 2015. Given the proximity of this date, the Council might wish to consider again submitting a proposal to the General Council for a decision to extend the period for the acceptance of the Protocol. For this purpose, a draft decision that could be submitted to the General Council for adoption had been included in Annex 2 to the draft report. As the draft proposal for a decision by the General Council did not yet contain a new deadline for the extended period for acceptances, he suggested that the Council propose to extend the period by a further two years until 31 December 2017.

7.12. In conclusion, the Chairman proposed that the Council agree on forwarding to the General Council the proposal for a decision to extend the period of acceptance by Members of the Protocol Amending the TRIPS Agreement until 31 December 2017. The last paragraph of the draft decision by the General Council contained in Annex 2 to the draft report should be complemented by inserting this date. He also proposed that the Council agree on the cover note to the report contained in JOB/IP/13, with the update concerning the instruments of acceptance that had been deposited by Sri Lanka, Lao People's Democratic Republic, and Iceland since the circulation of the draft cover note, and also that the Council minutes containing the record of the discussion be attached to it.

7.13. The Council so agreed.

IP/C/M/80, IP/C/M/80/Add.1