268. The Chairman recalled that, at Doha, the Ministerial Conference had adopted a Decision on Implementation-Related Issues and Concerns (WT/MIN(01)/17). Paragraph 11.1 of the Decision stated: "The TRIPS Council is directed to continue its examination of the scope and modalities for complaints of the types provided for under subparagraphs 1(b) and 1(c) of Article XXIII of GATT 1994 and make recommendations to the Fifth Session of the Ministerial Conference. It is agreed that, in the meantime, Members will not initiate such complaints under the TRIPS Agreement." Thus, the Council had a time-frame for its work, namely the fifth Ministerial Conference, to be held in Cancún, Mexico in September 2003. As requested by the Council at its meeting in March 2002, the Secretariat had circulated prior to its June meeting in document IP/C/W/349 a summary note of the points raised in the substantive discussion of this agenda item so far. At that time, he had also circulated an annotated agenda in document JOB(02)/66 raising a number of questions that Members might wish to address.
269. He recalled that the Council had agreed at its last meeting to continue its discussion of the matter on the basis of the annotated agenda and other material on the table at the present meeting. It had also set the first meeting of the Council in 2003 as a target date for the submission of specific proposals from delegations. This, however, was not to preclude earlier or later papers in an effort to find common ground. He also recalled that, at the Council's previous meeting, Peru had introduced a joint communication on this matter on behalf of a number of Members. The final version of this communication, received after that meeting, had been circulated in document IP/C/W/385. Since then, no new communications had been received.
