Compte rendu ‒ Conseil des ADPIC ‒ Afficher les détails de l'intervention/la déclaration

Ambassador Choi Hyuck (Korea)
G DECISION ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF PARAGRAPH 6 OF THE DOHA DECLARATION ON THE TRIPS AGREEMENT AND PUBLIC HEALTH
203. Referring to her statement made at the TRIPS Council in June 2004 and to the Note by the Legal Affairs Division of the Secretariat on the legal significance of footnotes in WTO Agreements (12 May 2004), the representative of Argentina recalled that in her delegation's view, there was no agreement to consider the Chairman's Statement as falling under paragraph 2 of Article 31 of the Vienna Convention. In its note, the Secretariat had quoted jurisprudence which could be referred to when analysing the legal status of the Chairman's Statement. The Secretariat's note had also stated that the use of a footnote as a means to incorporate an amendment into the TRIPS Agreement was not determinative of the legal significance of any Chairman's Statement referred to or reproduced within such footnote, but that the precise text of the footnote was decisive. At the time when the use of a footnote was considered to amend the TRIPS Agreement, her delegation had already disagreed with that conclusion, as WTO Members should unanimously agree to accord legal status pursuant to Article 31 of the Vienna Convention to the Chairman's Statement. She said that it was apparent from the discussions over the last two years that there was no such unanimity among WTO Members, and that the majority of Members considered that the Chairman's Statement lacked sufficient legal value to form part of an amendment to the TRIPS Agreement.
IP/C/M/49