194. The representative of Australia supported the process of informal consultations undertaken by the Chairman in an attempt to bridge differences and to achieve agreement on a permanent amendment to the TRIPS Agreement to incorporate the Decision in time for the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference. She considered that the amendment process should be a technical exercise reflecting the agreement WTO Members had reached in August 2003 without re-opening or renegotiating substantive issues. This implied faithfully preserving the agreement in its entirety. Her delegation was flexible as to how this could be achieved and encouraged focused consultations on this point. She noted that the waivers in the Decision remained in place until a permanent amendment was agreed and that the Decision was ready for use as it had been implemented by a number of Members.
