8. The Chairperson recalled that, at its meeting in November 2000, the Council had reviewed the legislation of eight Members, including Kuwait. Kuwait had not responded to some initial questions at the end of the November 2000 meeting, nor at the April 2001 meeting but, since then, it had submitted responses to some initial questions, which had been circulated in document IP/C/W/232/Add.1, together with a corrigendum. The Chairperson noted that Kuwait had still not responded to a number of other outstanding initial questions posed by Canada, the European Communities and their member States, Switzerland and the United States.
9. The representative of Kuwait welcomed the opportunity for follow-up of the review of its legislation. His delegation had provided around 18 further responses to questions posed by Canada, the European Communities and their member States and Switzerland (circulated in document IP/C/W/232/Add.1), and he noted that he had received follow-up questions from the latter two delegations in February 2001. His delegation had done its utmost to obtain replies from the competent authorities in capital as soon as possible. He had provided responses to outstanding questions during the previous week, but some could not be answered in time for technical reasons. Further, his delegation had also provided an explanatory memorandum on the Copyright Law No. 64/1999 (reproduced in the annex to IP/C/W/232/Add.2) as well as a list of achievements of the Ministry of Information concerning copyright (reproduced in the annex to IP/C/W/232/Add.1). In addition, his delegation had that day provided responses to questions posed by the United States in the fields of trademarks and patents (document IP/C/W/232/Add.3). His delegation would appreciate receiving any further follow-up questions in writing and would provide responses to interested Members with a copy to the Secretariat in the near future.
10. The representatives of the European Communities and the United States said that they were reviewing the responses received from Kuwait, some of which had been received during the meeting.
11. The Chairperson said that the Council looked forward to receiving Kuwait's responses to outstanding initial questions before the next meeting. He suggested that the Council take note of the statements made and revert to this sub-item at its next meeting.
12. The Council so agreed.
