83. The Chairman said that Bulgaria and Mongolia had acceded to the WTO under Article XII of the WTO Agreement. The effective dates of their accession were, respectively, 1 December 1996 and 29 January 1997 (documents WT/Let/117 and WT/Let/130). Paragraph 2 of the Protocol of Accession for Bulgaria (WT/ACC/BGR/7) incorporated the commitment given by Bulgaria in relation to intellectual property as reproduced in paragraph 85 of the report of the Working Party on the Accession of Bulgaria. According to this paragraph, "[t]he representative of Bulgaria confirmed that his Government would apply the provisions of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights by the date of its accession to the WTO, without recourse to any transitional period." Paragraph 2 of the Protocol for the Accession of Mongolia (WT/ACC/MNG/11) incorporated the commitment given by Mongolia in relation to intellectual property as reproduced in paragraph 54 of the report of the Working Party on the Accession of Mongolia. According to this paragraph "[t]he representative of Mongolia stated that his country's laws in the field of intellectual property rights were already in conformity with the provisions of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), and that Mongolia would fully apply the provisions of the TRIPS Agreement by the date of its accession to the WTO".
