1. The Chairman drew attention to the latest Secretariat note reflecting the status of the notifications of laws and regulations under Article 63.2 received from Members whose transitional periods under Article 65.2 or 65.3 had expired on 1 January 2000 or who had acceded to the WTO after that date (JOB(04)/68). The note showed from which of the Members in question notifications had been received by 3 June 2004. Since the Council's meeting in March 2004, Swaziland had notified its TRIPS implementing legislation. Among the 81 Members in question, there remained three who had not yet submitted any notification concerning their implementing legislation, namely Papua New Guinea; Saint Kitts and Nevis; and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. He recalled that in the previous year, as requested by the Council at its meeting in February 2003, his predecessor had written to the Members that had not been represented at that meeting and which had unfilled notification obligations under Article 63.2. Since then, the Secretariat has had informal contacts with the three delegations that had not yet submitted any notification. He suggested that the Chair once again write to these three Members concerning the notification of their TRIPS implementing legislation.
2. Informing the Council about the supplements and updates to earlier notifications of laws and regulations that had been received since the March meeting, the Chairman said that the Czech Republic had notified a new Trademark Law and an Act on Courts and Judges; El Salvador had notified its "Law on Marks and Other Distinctive Signs"; Georgia had notified a list of geographical indications for wine, alcoholic beverages and mineral water; Germany had notified a "Law to Strengthen the Contractual Position of Authors and Performing Artists" and provisions of certain other laws in the area of enforcement; Hong Kong, China had notified recent amendments to its laws and regulations in the area of patents, designs and trademarks together with explanatory notes; Japan had notified an updated text of its "Customs Tariff Law"; Mexico had notified certain amendments to its industrial property laws and regulations; Panama had notified amendments relating to its criminal and judicial codes; Saint Lucia had notified legislation enacted or amended since the review of its legislation in 2001; and Tunisia had notified that it had ratified the Budapest Treaty. These notifications were being circulated in the IP/N/1/- series of documents. Furthermore, Armenia had provided its responses to the Checklist of Issues on Enforcement (IP/N/6/ARM/1).
3. The Chairman urged those Members whose initial notification remained incomplete to submit the outstanding material without delay. He also reminded Members of their obligation to notify any subsequent amendments of their laws and regulations without delay after their entry into force.
4. As regards notifications of contact points under Article 69, he said that, since the March meeting, notifications of new contact points had been received from Latvia and Swaziland. Furthermore, an updated notification of a contact point had been received from Angola. These notifications had been circulated in document IP/N/3/Add.7. There were now 120 Members who had notified contact points under Article 69.
