55. The Chairperson recalled that, at its meeting of 12 May 1998, the Council had taken note of a Checklist of Questions and invited those Members already under an obligation to apply the provisions of the Section on Geographical Indications to provide their responses by 16 November 1998, while other Members could furnish replies on a voluntary basis. This action had been taken by the Council on the understanding that both the questionnaire itself and the responses to it would be without prejudice to the rights and obligations of Members. Responding Members would be free to group their responses to questions as they found appropriate in the context of their national systems. This Checklist was available in document IP/C/13. At its meeting of 16 July 1998, the Council had taken note of four additional questions and agreed that these questions be included in the Checklist. The additional questions were available in document IP/C/13/Add.1. The Secretariat had received responses to the Checklist from, in chronological order, the Czech Republic, Japan, Bulgaria, the United States, Turkey, Canada, the Slovak Republic, Norway, Hungary, Ecuador, the European Communities and several of their member States, Liechtenstein and New Zealand. Advance copies of these responses were available at the present meeting and would be circulated as documents IP/C/W/117 and addenda in due course.
