40. The representative of the European Communities said that the situation with respect to the implementation of Articles 70.8 and 70.9 was similar to that with respect to Articles 3, 4 and 5, except that the implementation deadline for Articles 70.8 and 70.9 had passed in 1995 instead of 1996. Knowing that there were still a number of countries which had not taken the necessary measures or notified duly measures taken to the Council, he called upon those countries to meet their obligations without delay. He suggested that the Secretariat start thinking about the timing, in the near future, of a review of the implementation of Articles 70.8 and 70.9. Since the modalities for such a review would clearly follow the procedures for reviewing laws and regulations notified under Article 63.2 in line with the Council Decision of 21 November 1995 (document IP/C/2), only the "when" still needed to be filled in. His delegation was of the view that a review would be more systematic and orderly if it were done in the Council rather than only being left to the initiative of some WTO Members on a unilateral basis under Article 63. Although the European Communities and their Member States might of course also wish to pursue matters on a bilateral basis, they believed that the time had come for the Council to look into the implementation of these very specific provisions in a systematic way.
