Actas - Consejo de los ADPIC - Ver detalles de la intervención/declaración

H Preparation for the Singapore Ministerial
51. The representative of Australia said that her delegation had been fairly active across the board in making efforts in preparation for Singapore and, with respect to the built-in agenda of the different agreements, had submitted papers relating to various areas. Her delegation's views were based on a recognition of the various commitments for on-going work as contained in the Uruguay Round agreements. In this context, she could generally support the approach taken in the non-paper circulated by the European Communities, which was consistent with her delegation's views concerning the preparation for Singapore. Preparatory work should be based on the built-in agenda of the different agreements. As regards certain specific aspects of the non-paper, she agreed with the objective contained in paragraph 4 in terms of the full and timely implementation of Members' obligations. As to the section dealing with developing country Members, she noted that in the APEC context at least some developing countries had announced their intention to advance the implementation dates. In terms of the review under Article 24.2 (paragraph 5 of the non-paper), she underlined that Article 23 of the TRIPS Agreement was limited to wines and spirits. She wondered what negotiations the Community was referring to and noted that Article 23.4 required negotiations to take place and that Article 24.2 required a review to be done before the end of 1996, but these were two separate provisions. In respect of paragraph 6, she wondered what was meant by the term "in due course"; when did the Community believe that the preparatory work for the review under Article 27.3(b) should start and what should Ministers at Singapore recommend and how detailed should these recommendations be? As regards paragraph 7, she said that the issues in question were currently being negotiated in WIPO and would not necessarily be concluded before the Singapore Ministerial; she wondered whether there would be any possibility of anticipating the outcome of those negotiations in advance of the Diplomatic Conference concerning a Protocol to the Berne Convention and a New Instrument concerning the Protection of Performers and Producers of Phonograms. As to paragraph 8, she expressed doubts as to whether it would be appropriate for WTO Members to call on countries to adhere to WIPO treaties.
IP/C/M/8