298. The Chairman recalled that, at its meeting in February 2003, the Council had adopted a decision on the "Implementation of Article 66.2 of the TRIPS Agreement". Paragraph 1 of the Decision provided that developed country Members should submit reports annually on actions taken or planned in pursuance of their commitments under Article 66.2. To this end, they were to provide new detailed reports every third year and, in the intervening years, provide updates to their most recent reports. These reports were to be submitted prior to the last Council meeting scheduled for the year in question. The Council had taken up its first annual review of developed country Members' reports on their implementation of Article 66.2 at its meeting in November 2003. At its meeting in June 2005, the Council had agreed to request developed country Members to submit a second set of updates to these reports on actions they had taken or planned in pursuance of their commitments for the present meeting. The Secretariat had issued, on 18 July airgram WTO/AIR/2329 to remind developed country Members of this request.
299. The Council had received updated information from the following developed country Members: Japan; Switzerland; Canada; New Zealand; the European Communities and certain member States (the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Slovak Republic, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom); Norway; and the United States (being circulated in document IP/C/W/452 and addenda).
300. As regarded the purpose and conduct of the review of this information, he recalled that paragraph 2 of the Decision explained that the annual review meetings should provide Members with an opportunity to pose questions in relation to the information submitted and request additional information; discuss the effectiveness of the incentives provided in promoting and encouraging technology transfer to least-developed country Members in order to enable them to create a sound and viable technological base; and consider any points relating to the operation of the reporting procedure established by the Decision.
