9.1. The Chairman recalled that, at its meeting in November 2012, the Council had taken up the tenth annual review of developed country Members' reports on their implementation of Article 66.2 of the TRIPS Agreement. In concluding that item, he had indicated that delegations would be provided with an opportunity at the present meeting to make further comments on the information submitted for that meeting, which they had been unable to examine.
9.2. At that meeting, Haiti, on behalf of the LDC Group, had requested the Council to adopt the proposed format for reports submitted by developed country Members under Article 66.2 contained in a communication submitted by Angola on behalf of the LDC Group prior to the ninth review (IP/C/W/561). He had consulted with interested delegations on this suggestion. Their positions remained in essence as expressed at the Council's November meeting. LDCs felt that more uniformity in the information on the way in which incentives were being provided would facilitate progress. Donor countries had indicated their willingness to take into consideration the format in preparing their future reports, but felt that a uniform format would fail to reflect the diversity of various incentives they were providing.
9.3. He recalled that, in view of the ongoing implementation of the recommendations for savings and more efficient use of resources made by the Budget Committee (WT/BFA/128), the Council, at its meeting in June 2012, had invited the Secretariat to identify ways of facilitating the submission, processing and circulation of that information, and to consult with delegations at a technical level. The Secretariat had reported at the Council's November 2012 meeting on its work to develop an information management tool for that purpose. In his subsequent consultations with interested delegations, both the recipient and donor countries had expressed interest in the development of such a tool, which would provide easier access to the wealth of information contained in these reports, and better respond to their needs and expectations.
