WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONIP/C/27/Add.1
2 July 2003
(03-3526)
UPDATE TO THE ANNUAL REPORT (2002) OF THE COUNCIL FOR TRIPS
Addendum
I. GENERAL
1. This document updates the Annual Report (2002) of the Council for TRIPS (IP/C/27).  It
should be read in conjunction with the original report since it does not contain certain backgroundinformation on the various agenda items provided in that report.  Since the period covered by it, the
Council reconvened, on 20 December 2002, its end-of-year meeting held on 25-27 and
29 November 2002 to continue its work on agenda items "Paragraph 6 of the Doha Declaration on the
TRIPS Agreement and Public Health" and "Implementation of Article 66.2".  In the year 2003, the
Council has so far held two formal meetings, on 18-19 February and 4-5 June.
1  The minutes of these
meetings are to be found in documents IP/C/M/38, 39, and 40.2
2. The reconvened meeting in December 2002 and the meeting in February 2003 was chaired by
Ambassador Eduardo Pérez Motta (Mexico) and the meeting in June 2003 by
Ambassador Vanu Gopala Menon (Singapore).
II. NOTIFICATIONS UNDER THE PROVISIONS OF THE AGREEMENT
3. At its meeting in February and June, the Council took note of new notifications under various
provisions of the TRIPS Agreement.  To date, 121 Members have notified pursuant to Article 63.2 all
or part of their implementing legislation relating to all provisions of the Agreement, and 96 Members
have provided responses to the Checklist of Issues on Enforcement (IP/C/5).3  During the reporting
period, a number of Members have notified amendments to laws and regulations they had notified
earlier.  To date, 117 Members have notified pursuant to Article 69 contact points for the purposes of
cooperating with each other with a view to elim inating international trade in goods infringing
intellectual property rights. In addition, during the reporting period, the Council received a
notification from Denmark under Article 1.3.
                                                     
1 The agenda of the February and June 2003 meetings did not include outstanding implementation
issues in the area of TRIPS, which had figured on the Council's agenda in 2002, given the action under way inthe Trade Negotiations Committee.
2 Document IP/C/M/40 to be circulated.
3 A table attached to document JOB(03)/102, dated 28 May 2002, sets out the status, as of
26 May 2003, of notifications of national laws and regulations received under Article 63.2 of the TRIPSAgreement from Members whose transitional period under Article 65.2 or 65.3 expired on 1 January 2000 orwho have acceded to the WTO after that date.IP/C/27/Add.1
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III. REVIEW OF NATIONAL LAWS AND REGULATIONS
4. During the reporting period, the Council completed its reviews of Cameroon and Kenya, and
took note of the new responses received from and the outstanding material required to complete the
pending reviews of 18 other Members.4
IV. THE TRIPS AGREEMENT AND PUBLIC HEALTH
A. PARAGRAPH 6 OF THE DOHA DECLARATION ON THE TRIPS AGREEMENT AND PUBLIC HEALTH
5. At the Council's reconvened meeting on 20 December 2002, the Chair informed the Council
that the intensive consultations he had held had not led to a resolution of the language concerning the
scope of diseases/public health problems in paragraph 1(a) of the draft text he had tabled on
16 December 2002 (JOB(02)/217).  The Council authorized him to report this to the General Council
and to recommend that the TRIPS Council be asked to resume work on this matter at the beginning
of 2003 in order to resolve the outstanding issues in the Chairman's text of 16 December 2002 and toreport to the General Council in order to enable it to take a decision implementing a solution to the
problem identified in paragraph 6 at its meeting scheduled for 10 February 2003.
5
6. Three new documents were submitted prior to the Council's meeting in February 2003, one by
the United States (IP/C/W/396/Corr.1), the second by the European Communities and their member
States (JOB(03)/9) and the third by Japan (JOB(03)/19).  At that meeting, the Chair reported that hewas not in a position to put forward any further sugges tions or ideas to bridge the remaining gap in the
16 December 2002 text and that he would report the state of play on this subject to the Chair of the
General Council, leaving it to his successor to decide on further consultations on this subject.
7. At its meeting in June, the Council had before it two new submissions:  a communication on
behalf of the ACP countries (IP/C/W/401) and a communication from the European Communities(IP/C/W/402).  After the discussion, the Chair expressed his intention to remain in close contact with
delegations with a view to resuming consultations as soon as developments showed signs of renewed
consultations being useful.  He urged delegations to continue to dialogue with each other so that a
solution could be found based on the 16 December 2002 text.  He hoped that a solution could be
found before the Cancun Ministerial Conference and preferably in time for the next General Councilmeeting scheduled for 24 July 2003.
V. REVIEW OF THE PROVISIONS OF  ARTICLE 27.3(B);  RELATIONSHIP
BETWEEN THE TRIPS AGREEMENT AND THE CONVENTION ON
BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY;  AND PROTECTION OF TRADITIONAL
KNOWLEDGE AND FOLKLORE
8. The Council continued its discussion of these three agenda items at its meetings in February
and June 2003.  Given the consultations under way in the context of the TNC on outstanding TRIPSimplementation issues, the examination of these matters at the meetings in question did not include
consideration of outstanding implementation issues relating to them.  For the February meeting, the
Secretariat had prepared a note containing an updated synoptic table summarizing the information
Members had provided in response to a questionnaire on the implementation of Article 27.3(b)
(IP/C/W/273/Rev.1).  At its June meeting, the C ouncil had before it three new communications:  one
from Switzerland expressing its views on these three agenda items (IP/C/W/400/Rev.1);  one received
                                                     
4 A table attached to document JOB(03)/101, dated 26 May 2003, lists those Members whose reviews
were initiated at the Council's meetings between April 2001 and June 2002.
5 The General Council considered this matter on 20 December 2002, and invited the TRIPS Council to
resume work on it promptly at the beginning of 2003 to resolve the outstanding issues in the Chairman's text of16 December 2002 and to report to the General Council so that a decision implementing a solution to theproblem identified in paragraph 6 could be taken at the first General Council meeting in 2003.IP/C/27/Add.1
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from India on behalf of Bolivia, Brazil, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, India, Peru,
Thailand and Venezuela concerning the relationship between the TRIPS Agreement and the
Convention on Biological Diversity and the Protec tion of Traditional Knowledge (IP/C/W/403);  and
one received from Morocco on behalf of the African group suggesting ways of taking forward the
review of Article 27.3(b) (IP/C/W/404).  After the discussion, including on the respective roles of theCouncil and the TNC in carrying forward work on these matters, the Chair concluded that he would
brief the Chairman of the TNC on the discussion that had taken place in the Council and that
Members would have an opportunity to discuss these subjects again at the meeting of the TRIPS
Council in November 2003.
VI. REVIEW OF IMPLEMENTATION OF THE TRIPS AGREEMENT UNDER
ARTICLE 71
9. The Council continued its consideration of this agenda item.  No new written submissions
were made.
VII. IMPLEMENTATION OF ARTICLE 66.2
10. At its meeting in February 2003, the Council adopted a decision on "Implementation of
Article 66.2 of the TRIPS Agreement" (IP/C/28), giving effect to the instructions of the Doha
Ministerial Conference in paragraph 11.2 of the Decision on Implementation-Related Issues andConcerns (WT/MIN(01)/17) to put in place a mechanism for ensuring the monitoring and full
implementation of the obligations in question.  The first set of new detailed annual reports to be
presented under the Decision are to be submitted at the end of 2003.
11. In addition, the Council took note of information developed countries had provided on their
implementation of Article 66.2 (IP/C/W/388 and adde nda 1-8) and of a related "Reflection Paper on
Transfer of Technology to Developing and Least-Developed Countries" submitted by the European
Communities and their member States (IP/C/W/398).
VIII.  NON-VIOLATION AND SITUATION COMPLAINTS
12. The Council continued its discussion under this agenda item at its meetings in February and
June, including on options for the recommendations on non-violation and situation complaints itshould make to the Cancun Ministerial Conference, as called for in paragraph 11.1 of the Decision on
Implementation-Related Issues and Concerns.  At the June meeting, the Chair concluded that it
seemed that he would need to report to the General Council meeting of 24 July that the TRIPS
Council was not in a position to make recommendations to the Fifth Ministerial Conference at that
stage.  He added that this meant that further wo rk might need to take place in the TRIPS Council
context in the period between the General Counc il meeting and the Ministerial Conference.
IX. ELECTRONIC COMMERCE
13. At its meeting in June, the Council took note of an update to the Secretariat's factual
background note on intellectual property and electr onic commerce (IP/C/W/128/Add.1).  It decided
that it would adopt by written procedure a brief factual report to be drafted by the Secretariat
summarizing the Council's recent work on electronic commerce, including references to the relevant
parts of the minutes of the meetings where this item had been discussed and references to anydocuments submitted to the Council.
6
                                                     
6 Subsequently circulated as document IP/C/29.IP/C/27/Add.1
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X. REVIEW OF THE APPLICATION OF THE PROVISIONS OF THE SECTION ON
GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATIONS UNDER ARTICLE 24.2
14. At its meetings in February and June, the Council considered how to carry forward this
review.  In June, the Council agreed to requ est the Secretariat to update its summary note
(IP/C/W/253) on the information provided by Members in response to a checklist of questions(IP/C/13 and Add.1) on the way they provided protection for geographical indications to take into
account the information received from Members sin ce the circulation of that summary note.  In
addition, the Council invited those Members that had not yet provided such information in response to
the checklist to do so.
XI. TECHNICAL COOPERATION AND CAPACITY-BUILDING
15. At its meeting in June, the Council invited developed country Members to supply information
on their activities pursuant to Article 67 of the TRI PS Agreement prior to the annual special review of
this matter to be held at the November meeting.  Other Members who also make available technical
cooperation were encouraged to share information on these activities if they so wished.
Intergovernmental organizations that have observer status in the TRIPS Council were also invited to
provide information on their activities of relevance and, further, the WTO Secretariat was instructed
to report on its activities.  This information was requested to be made available by the end of October,in order to allow its circulation before the Council's meeting in November.  In addition, the WTO and
WIPO Secretariats provided, at the February and June meetings, information on the implementation of
the WIPO-WTO Joint Initiative in favour of least-developed countries.
XII. SPECIAL AND DIFFERENTIAL TREATMENT PROPOSALS REFERRED TO THE
COUNCIL
16. At its June meeting, the Council considered the special and differential treatment proposals
made in the context of the negotiations in the Special Session of the Committee on Trade and
Development and referred to it by the Chair of the General Council in a letter dated 20 May 2003.
7
The Chair of the TRIPS Council encouraged Members to continue their mutual dialogue on thematter.  The Council authorized the Chair to report on the further consultations to the General Councilin advance of its meeting of 24 July on his own responsibility.
XIII.  INFORMATION ON RELEVANT DEVELOPMENTS ELSEWHERE IN THE WTO
17. During the period under review, the Council was informed of actions relating to proceedings
in cases initiated under the Dispute Settlement Understanding relevant to the TRIPS Agreement
(documents IP/D/19/Add.1 and IP/D/25) as well as  of other developments elsewhere in the WTO
relating to the TRIPS Agreement.
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7 A proposal by least-developed countries concerning Article 66.1 of the TRIPS Agreement in
document TN/CTD/W/4/Add.1, and a proposal by the African group on Articles 65, 66.1, 70.8 and 70.9 indocument TN/CTD/W3/Rev.2.