43. The Chairperson recalled that the Council had agreed in November 1996 that the Chair would consult in 1997 with individual Members whose legislation had not been subject to the present review, but whose legislation had already been, in whole or in large part, brought into conformity with the TRIPS Agreement. The purpose of these consultations would be to see the scope for the legislation of such Members to be progressively incorporated into the review process by the Council after the conclusion of the present review programme, i.e. at the earliest in 1998. It was understood that the agreement of a Member to this would be without prejudice to the legal situation regarding its entitlements under Article 65 and would be intended as a practical contribution to the work of the Council, in particular to even out its future workload. She informed the Council that she had initiated such consultations with individual delegations, with a view to developing a schedule for reviews in 1998 and 1999. In this regard, she was in contact not only with those Members whose legislation had, in whole or in large part, been brought into conformity in advance, but also with those Members who had joined the present review exercise late and whose legislation therefore would not have been fully reviewed by the end of this year and those Members who had recently acceded to the WTO. She hoped to be able to inform Members of the results of these consultations at the Council's meeting in July.
