RESTRICTEDWORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONIP/C/W/229
23 November 2000
(00-5009)
Council for Trade-Related Aspects
of Intellectual Property Rights
DRAFT ANNUAL REPORT (2000) OF THE COUNCIL FOR TRIPS1
I. GENERAL
1. Since the period covered by its last report2, the Council for TRIPS has held [four] formal
meetings, on 21 March, 26-29 June, 21-22 September and [27 November to 1 December] 2000.  The
minutes of these meetings are to be found in documents IP/C/M/26-[29].3
2. The first meeting referred to above was chaired by Ambassador Carlos Perez del Castillo
(Uruguay) and the other meetings by Ambassador Chak Mun See (Singapore).
3. The meetings of the Council were open to all WTO Members, other governments with
observer status in WTO bodies and international intergovernmental organizations with regular
observer status in the Council.  At its meeting in June, the Council granted ad hoc observer status tothe World Health Organization, subject to certain conditions.  Decisions on requests for observer
status from 15 Organizations are pending.
4
II. NOTIFICATIONS AND NOTIFICATION PROCEDURES
(i) Article 63.25
4. The notification procedures, adopted by the Council at its meeting in November 1995, require
that, as of the time that a Member is obliged to start applying a provision of the TRIPS Agreement,
the corresponding laws and regulations shall be notified without delay (IP/C/2).  To date,
[69] Members have made such notifications under Article 63.2 with respect to all or most of their
implementing legislation relating to all provisions of the Agreement.  [Eleven] other Members have
made notifications relating specifically to the implementation of Articles 3, 4 and 5 of theAgreement.
6  Notifications concerning the implementation of Article 70.8 and, in some cases,
Article 70.9 of the TRIPS Agreement have been receiv ed from [23] Members;  some of them indicate
that product patent protection for pharmaceutical and/or agricultural chemical products is already
available in their territories.
5. At its November 1995 meeting, the Council also agreed that Members would provide
responses to a checklist of issues on enforcement (IP/C/5).  To date, [59] Members have notified
responses.
                                                     
1 This draft will need to be updated in the light of the work done by the Council at its meeting of
27 November to 1 December 2000.
2 Document IP/C/19.
3 [Document IP/C/M/29 to be circulated.]
4 The Organizations in question are listed in document IP/C/W/52/Rev.9.
5 Circulation of notifications referred to in pa ragraph 4 below takes place in the IP/N/1/COUNTRY/-
series of documents.  Those referred to in paragraph 5 below have been circulated in the IP/N/6/COUNTRY/-series of documents.
6 A practical aid to assist delegations making the required notification is available in document IP/C/9.IP/C/W/229
Page 2
(ii) Articles 1.3 and 3.17
6. Articles 1.3 and 3.1 of the TRIPS Agreement, relating to the definition of beneficiary persons
under the Agreement and to national treatment, allow certain exceptions to the normal rules on these
matters, provided that notifications are made to  the Council for TRIPS.  Under these provisions,
[28] Members have submitted such notifications.
(iii) Article 4(d)8
7. Article 4(d) of the TRIPS Agreement requires a Member seeking to justify an exception to the
MFN rule on the basis of an international agreemen t relating to the protection of intellectual property
which had entered into force prior to the entry into force of the WTO Agreement to notify that
agreement to the Council for TRIPS.9  To date, 49 notifications have been received under this
provision from 34 Members.
(iv) Article 6910
8. Article 69 of the TRIPS Agreement requires Members to establish and notify contact points
for the purposes of cooperating with each other with a view to eliminating international trade in goods
infringing intellectual property rights.  Procedures for such notifications were agreed by the Councilin September 1995.  To date, [99]  Members have notified contact points.
(v) Notifications under other provisions of the Agreement
9. A number of notification provisions of the Berne and the Rome Conventions are incorporated
by reference into the TRIPS Agreement but without being explicitly referred to in it.11  T o  d a t e ,
[three] Members have made notifications under the provisions of Article 14 bis(2)(c) as applicable
under the TRIPS Agreement and [two] Members have made notifications under provisions of the
Appendix to the Berne C onvention so applicable.12
III. REVIEW OF NATIONAL LAWS AND REGULATIONS
10. The Council completed work on outstanding que stions arising from the review of the
legislation of the two Members taken up in the autumn of 1999.13
11. On 1 January 2000, the transitional periods of Article 65.2 and 65.3 expired and obligations
entered into effect for a large number of Members who had been availing themselves of these general
transitional periods.  Following informal consultations  that the Chairperson held prior to this date with
the Members concerned, it was agreed that the reviews of these Members' national implementing
legislation would take place in 2000 and 2001 and would concern all areas of intellectual property at
                                                     
7 Circulation of these notifications takes place in the IP/N/2/COUNTRY/- series of documents.
8 Circulation of these notifications takes place in the IP/N/4/COUNTRY/- series of documents.
9 An informal guideline to assist individual Members in making or reviewing their notifications under
Article 4(d) is available in the Annex to document IP/C/M/12.
10 These contact points are contained in document IP/N/3/Rev.3 and addenda.
11 Circulation of  these notifications takes place in the IP/N/5/COUNTRY/- series of documents.
12 For the calculation of the renewable ten-year period for which notifications under the Appendix
remain valid, reference is made to document IP/C/14.
13The records of the introductory statements made by delegations, the questions put to them and the
responses given, including follow-up questions and res ponses thereto, are circulated in, respectively, the
IP/Q/COUNTRY/- (copyright and related rights), IP/Q2/COUNTRY/- (trademarks, geographical indicationsand industrial designs), IP/Q3/COUNTRY/- (patents, layout-designs of integrated circuits, undisclosedinformation and the control of anti-competitive practices in contractual licences) and IP/Q4/COUNTRY/-(enforcement) series of documents.IP/C/W/229
Page 3
the same time, but that otherwise the procedures as  employed in such reviews by the Council so far
would be used.  In the light of further informal consultations held by the Chairperson on the practical
arrangements to be put in place for these reviews, including which Member's legislation would be
reviewed at which of these meetings, the Council agreed to set aside time for such reviews at its
meetings in June and November 2000 as well as at three of its meetings to be scheduled for 2001.  Atits meeting in June, the Council took up the reviews of the legislation of 13 Members.  It completed
ten of these reviews at its meeting in September;  the other three reviews were [completed][continued]
at the meeting in November.  At its meeting in November, the Council took up the reviews of the
legislation of a further eight Members.  […]
IV. IMPLEMENTATION OF ARTICLE 70.8 AND 70.9
12. During the reporting period, the Council received one new notification concerning this matter
and continued its consideration of the implementation of Article 70.8 and the related provisions ofArticle 70.9.
14
V. IMPLEMENTATION OF ARTICLE 66.2
13. This Article requires developed country Members to provide incentives to enterprises and
institutions in their territories for the purpose of promoting and encouraging technology transfer to
least-developed country Members in order to enable them to create a sound and viable technologicalbase.  At its meeting in December 1998, the Council agreed that developed country Members be
invited to supply information on how Article 66.2 was being implemented.  To date, information has
been submitted by 20 Members.  The matter was addressed at each meeting of the Council during the
period covered by this report.  In the discussions on this matter, to date, additional information was
provided by some Members and comments made on the adequacy of the submissions received.  At its
meeting in June, the Council had before it a short note it had requested the Secretariat to prepare
setting out the types of incentive measures that had been notified, with cross-references to where
further details could be found.
15  A proposal received from Zambia relating to special and differential
treatment in respect of technology transfer16 has been under discussion in the Council since June.  […]
VI. OTHER IMPLEMENTATION ISSUES RAISED IN THE COUNCIL
14. The Council continued its discussion on the issue of whether United States law on the
protection of trademarks and trade names was in conformity with the Agreement was addressed, in
the light of Section 211 of the United States Omnibus Consolidated and Emergency Supplemental
Appropriations Act of 1998.  At its meeting in September, the Council agreed that, if a panel were to
be established to examine this matter, the item be deleted from the Council's agenda, it being
understood that any Member could revert to it at any time should it so wish.
VII. RELEVANT DEVELOPMENTS ELSEWHERE IN THE WTO
15. During the period under review, the Council was informed of four actions under the Dispute
Settlement Understanding relevant to the TRIPS Agreement, as reflected in documents IP/D/21-23
and document WT/DS170/4.  In two disputes, panel reports were adopted and in one other dispute a
panel and Appellate Body report.  The first two of these disputes mentioned concern a case relating to
provisions affecting patent protection of pharmaceutical products (IP/D/11) and one on Section 110(5)of the United States Copyright Act (IP/D/16).  The third dispute concerns a case relating to the term of
patent protection (IP/D/17).  In one other case a panel was established and panel procedures are
ongoing.  This dispute concerns Section 211 of the United States Omnibus Appropriations Act of
                                                     
14 As regards notifications relating to Article 70.8 and 70.9, reference is made to paragraph 4 above.
15 Document IP/C/W/169.
16 Documents IP/C/W/199 and 200.IP/C/W/229
Page 4
1998 (IP/D/20).  Consultations are still pending on disp utes concerning certain measures affecting the
grant of copyright and related rights (IP/D/8 and 12);  measures affecting the enforcement of
intellectual property rights (IP/D/9);  measures affecting the enforcement of intellectual property
rights for motion pictures and television broadcasts (IP/D/13 and 14);  patent protection for
pharmaceutical and agricultural chemical products (IP/D/15);  patent protection for pharmaceuticalsand test data protection for agricultural chemi cals (IP/D/18);  the protection of trademarks and
geographical indications for agricultural products a nd foodstuffs (IP/D/19);  Section 337 of the United
States Tariff Act of 1930 and Amendments thereto (IP/D/21);  certain measures on the protection of
patents and test data (IP/D/22);  and meas ures affecting patent protection (IP/D/23).
VIII.  TECHNICAL COOPERATION
16. The Council has continued its work in this area on the basis of the procedures agreed at its
meeting in February 1996.  During the period under review, several delegations informed the Councilof specific technical cooperation activities made available to them or by them, or which had taken
place in their territories.  The Council agreed that this year developed country Members would update
the information on their technical and financial cooperation activities pursuant to Article 67 of the
Agreement in time for the Council's meeting in September 2000, which had a special focus on
technical cooperation.  As in previous years, intergovernmental organizations observers to the TRIPSCouncil also presented, on the invitation of the Counci l, information on their activities, as well as the
WTO Secretariat on its technical cooperation in the TRIPS area.  This information can be found in
documents IP/C/W/201-203 and Addenda.
17
17. The Secretariat cooperates with a number of intergovernmental organizations, notably with
WIPO pursuant to the Agreement Between WIPO and the WTO which entered into force on1 January 1996 and the joint initiative on technical cooperation of the Directors-General of the two
Organizations of July 1998.
IX. REVIEW OF THE APPLICATION OF THE PROVISIONS OF THE SECTION ON
GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATIONS UNDER ARTICLE 24.2
18. The Council continued its consideration of this matter in 2000.  In the reporting period, the
Council received responses to the Checklist of Questions adopted in 1998
18 from [four] Members and
has now received responses from the European Communities and their member States as well as from
[20] other Members.19  At the meeting in March, the Counci l was informed of follow-up questions
from a Member to another Member w ith regard to that Member's responses to the Checklist.  At the
meeting in September, the Council was informed th at the Secretariat had circulated a preliminary
version of the paper that the Council had requested it to prepare summarizing, on the basis of an
agreed outline20, the responses to the Checklist, in order to facilitate an understanding of the more
detailed information that had been provided in these responses.  At that meeting, communications
were also presented by two delegations on the subject of geographical indications and the Article 24.2
review.21  […]
                                                     
17 Contact points in developed country Members' administrations which can be addressed by
developing countries seeking technical cooperation on TRIPS are contained in document IP/N/7/Rev.2 and
addenda.
18 Document IP/C/13 and addendum.
19 Document IP/C/W/117 and addenda.
20 Informal document No. 2104 of 13 April 1999.
21 Documents IP/C/W/205 and 211.IP/C/W/229
Page 5
X. IMPLEMENTATION OF ARTICLE 24.1
19. This matter was placed on the agenda of the Council's meeting in September, following a
request of a delegation and the submission of a paper by this delegation jointly with a number of other
delegations, outlining the views of these delegations on the implementation of Article 24.1, in
particular in regard to the extension of additional protection for geographical indications to productsother than wines and spirits.
22  Two papers circulated prior to that meeting by a delegation also
address this matter.23  […]
XI. IMPLEMENTATION OF ARTICLE 23.4
20. The Council continued, throughout the period under review, its discussions on issues relevant
to the negotiations specified in Article 23.4 of the Agreement concerning the establishment of a
multilateral system of notification and registration of geographical indications for wines, and on
issues relevant to a notification and registration system for spirits, in accordance with paragraph 34 ofthe Council’s report (1996)
24, and the agreement reached in the General Council at its meeting of
7 and 8 February 2000. These discussions took place on the basis of a proposal from the European
Communities, of which the Council received a revision at its June meeting25, and a joint proposal
from Canada, Chile, Japan and the United States.26  At the same meeting, the Council also received a
paper from another delegation on the subject.27  Information gathered by the Council in the context of
its work on this matter includes 12 submissions from Members on systems for the registration of
geographical indications which they operate28;  a background note prepared by the Secretariat on
existing notification and registration systems for geographical indications relating to wines and
spirits29;  a background note prepared by the Secretariat on international notification and registration
systems for geographical indications relating to products other than wines and spirits30;  and
information provided orally by WIPO, at the meeting in September, on the work that had commenced
in July 2000 in that Organization in relation to the Lisbon Agreement.  […]
XII. REVIEW OF THE PROVISIONS OF ARTICLE 27.3(b)
21. At its meeting in March, the Council reaffirmed the need to continue with a review of the
provisions of Article 27.3(b).  When initiating the review in December 1998, the Council had invitedMembers that were already under an obligation to apply Article 27.3(b) to provide information on
how the matters addressed in this provision were presently treated in their national law.  Other
Members had been invited to provide such information on a best endeavours basis.  The Secretariat
had been asked to contact the FAO, the Secretar iat of the Convention on Biological Diversity and
UPOV, to request factual information on their activiti es of relevance.  By the time of the meeting in
[September], information had been received from [35] Members on how this provision was being
implemented by way of responses to the illustrative lists of questions
31 as well as from the three
intergovernmental organizations referred to.32  Throughout the period under review, Members
discussed extensively both a number of substantiv e issues and a number of procedural questions
                                                     
22 Document IP/C/W/204/Rev.1.
23 Documents IP/C/W/195 and 196.
24 Document IP/C/8.
25 Document IP/C/W/107/Rev.1.
26 Document IP/C/W/133/Rev.1.
27 Document IP/C/W/189.
28 Document IP/C/W/76 and addenda.
29 Document IP/C/W/85.
30 Document IP/C/W/85/Add.1.
31 Following a request from the Council, the Secretariat prepared a note (Job No. 2689 of 7 May 1999)
containing a structured summary overview of the information presented by the 33 Members from whom theCouncil had received information by that time.
32 Documents IP/C/W/130 and addenda.IP/C/W/229
Page 6
relating to how the Council should handle its furthe r work on this matter.  The latter issues included
those of seeking additional information on how this provision was being implemented by Members, in
particular since little information was as yet available from developing country Members in this
regard;  requesting various intergovernmental organizations, including WIPO, the FAO, the
Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity and UPOV to provide updated information33;
and considering ways of organizing the topics that had been raised in the discussions so far.  At its
meeting in September, the Council received six communications addressing matters under discussion
from a number of Members.34  […]
XIII.  REVIEW OF THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE AGREEMENT UNDER
ARTICLE 71.1
22. This Article requires the Council for TRIPS to review the implementation of the Agreement
after the end of the five-year transition period provided for in Article 65.2.  Throughout the periodunder review, the Council discussed how it should appr oach this general review of the implementation
of the Agreement.  It received papers on the matter from three delegations.
35  […]
XIV. NON-VIOLATION COMPLAINTS
23. Following a request of a delegation, the issue of the examination of the scope and modalities
for non-violation complaints was placed on the agenda of the Council's meeting in March.  As a resultof the discussions at that meeting, the Council also addressed the issue of non-violation complaints at
the other meetings in the period under review.  It received papers on the matter from a number of
delegations.
36  […]
XV. ELECTRONIC COMMERCE
24. In July 2000, the General Council agreed to invite the TRIPS Council and three other
subsidiary bodies, namely the Council for Trade in Goods, the Council for Trade in Services and the
Committee on Trade and Development, to pick up where they had left off in their work on e-
commerce within their respective spheres of compet ence, to identify cross-sectoral issues, and to
report back to the General Council at its regular meeting in December 2000.37  The Council heard an
update from WIPO at its meeting in September on the work of that Organization in this area.  […]
__________
                                                     
33 Information from these Organizations already circ ulated in the Council is contained in documents
IP/C/W/130 and addenda;  IP/C/W/213;  IP/C/W/217;  and IP/C/W/218.  Background notes prepared by theSecretariat for the Committee on Trade and Environment an d also circulated in the TRIPS Council are contained
in documents IP/C/W/175 and IP/C/W/216.
34 Documents IP/C/W/195, IP/C/W/196, IP/C/W/198 and Corr.1, IP/C/W/206, IP/C/W/209 and
JOB (00)/6091.
35 Documents IP/C/W/166, 210 and 214.
36 Documents IP/C/W/191, 194 and 212 as well as JOB (00)/6166.
37 Paragraphs 94 and 131 of document WT/GC/M/57.