RESTRICTED
WORLD TRADE IP/C/W/36
10September 1996
ORGANIZATION(96-3483)
Council forTrade-Related Aspect
ofIntellectual Property Rights
WTO SECRETARIAT TECHNICAL COOPERATION INTHE TRIPS AREA
Note bytheSecretariat
1. Thisdocument updates theinformation ontheWTO Secretariat 'stechnical cooperation activities
inregard toTRIPS matters contained indocument IP/C/W/11, dated 24August 1995. Itcovers those
activities which havebeenundertaken since thatdocument wasdistributed, aswellasthose planned
forthecoming months.
2. Thispaper focuses onSecretariat technical cooperation activities thatspecifically relate to
intellectual property. Inregard tomoregeneral technical cooperation activities carried outbytheWTO,
ageneral report wasrecently distributed totheCommittee onTrade andDevelopment indocuments
WT/COMTD/W/14 andWT/COMTD/W/14/Add.1, dated respectively 15May1996and8July1996.
Itshould benoted thatmany ofthegeneral technical cooperation activities described inthesedocuments
cover alsointellectual property. Secretariat officials working onintellectual property matters have
participated inthese activities totheextent possible. Such activities have included seminars and
workshops aimed atproviding anoverall appreciation oftheWTO provisions andmechanisms held
inGeneva andoutside Geneva andother assistance. Itmight alsobenoted thateachWTO tradepolicy
course included apresentation ontheTRIPS Agreement, ofhalfadayoroneday,made bySecretariat
officials working ontheTRIPS Agreement. Inaddition, theparticipants ofthese courses havespent
halfadayatWIPO, learning about thatOrganization, itsconventions andactivities.
Main Orientations
3. Thefocus oftheSecretariat 'stechnical cooperation activities specifically inrelation toTRIPS
hascontinued tobeonassisting Members tounderstand therights andobligations which flowfrom
theTRIPS Agreement. Thishasbeenaimed athelping Members toassess theamendments thatmay
beneeded totheirnational legislation, theadaptations ininstitutions thatmaybecalled forandother
requirements forwhich theywould needtoplan. Thepurpose hasalsobeentoassist Members to
participate fullyintheoperation oftheTRIPS Council, including tomeettheirprocedural obligations
under theAgreement, andtheother mechanisms oftheWTO related toTRIPS matters. Thetechnical
cooperation made available hasbeenessentially demand-driven, though theextent towhich requests
could beresponded towaslimited bytheavailable resources. Therecruitment oftwoadditional officers
towork onTRIPS matters willhelptoeasethisconstraint inthemonths ahead. Themainmodalities
fortechnical cooperation specifically relating totheTRIPS Agreement havebeeninformation andadvice
given toMembers inGeneva, seminars andworkshops fordeveloping countries andNGO conferences.
Cooperation withother intergovernmental organizations hasalsoplayed animportant roleinthearea
oftechnical cooperation.IP/C/W/36
Page2
Information andAdvice Given toMembers inGeneva
4. Alarge partofthework ofSecretariat officials dealing withintellectual property matters has
beenconcerned withproviding information inresponse toquestions puttothem byrepresentatives
ofMember governments. These queries havecome roughly equally from developing countries and
fromother countries. Theissues raised haveconcerned, forthemostpart,themeaning ofparticular
provisions oftheTRIPS Agreement, thefulfilment ofprocedural obligations under theAgreement and
matters under discussion intheTRIPS Council. Matters havebeenraised withtheSecretariat notonly
bylocaldelegations butalso,toaconsiderable extent, byvisiting intellectual property officials and,
occasionally, asaresult ofdirect contacts fromofficials incapitals byphone orinwritten form. Often
theissues raised relate todraftlegislation under consideration. Advice andinformation hasalsobeen
given toofficials from countries intheprocess ofnegotiating their accession totheWTO, and
representatives oftheprivate sector.
Seminars andWorkshops forDeveloping Countries
5. TheSecretariat hasbeenabletoparticipate inanumber ofregional seminars devoted inwhole
orinlarge parttotheTRIPS Agreement ortoaspecific aspect oftheTRIPS Agreement andaimed
tobeofbenefit toofficials directly concerned withimplementation oftheAgreement. TheSecretariat
provided speakers tomajor regional symposia ontheimplementation oftheTRIPS Agreement organized
byWIPO, ofwhich twowereheldinAfrica, oneinAsia, oneinLatin America, andonefortheArab
countries. TheSecretariat provided speakers alsototworegional seminars andonetraining course
onintellectual property organized byWIPO, aswellastotheWIPO Academy andaWIPO Symposium
ontheTRIPS Agreement andEnforcement ofIntellectual Property Rights heldinGeneva. Thefinancial
assistance oftheInternational Bureau ofWIPO made itpossible forWTO Secretariat officials to
participate inWIPO organized meetings outside Geneva. TheSecretariat officials participated also
inoneseminar organized forcountries intransition andonefortheCIScountries, which werefinanced
bythehosts oranother agency.
6. Inaddition totheWIPO seminars mentioned above, theWTO Secretariat hasparticipated in
seminars organized byotherintergovernmental organizations. Itprovided aspeaker foraninformation
meeting organized byUPOV, andhasagreed tomake apresentation atameeting being organized by
theWHOandtheInternationalConferenceonDrugRegulatoryAuthorities(ICDRA)inanArabCountry
inNovember 1996, andataworkshop forCommonwealth African countries ontheTRIPS Agreement
thatisbeing organized bytheAfrican Regional Industrial Property Organization (ARIPO).
7. TheSecretariat officials working onintellectual property matters havebeenabletoparticipate
inasmall number ofnational seminars, twoinAsiaandoneplanned forOctober inLatin America.
Forreasons offinancial andpersonnel constraints, theSecretariat hasbeenabletodorelatively little
torespond todemand forthistypeofactivity.
8. Asagreed bytheCouncil atitsmeeting of9May1996(IP/C/M/7, paragraph 38),theSecretariat
isorganizing apilotproject foranin-depth discussion ofaspecific aspect oftechnical cooperation.
Thetopic forthefirstsuchdiscussion willbeborder enforcement. ThisWorkshop ontheBorder
Enforcement Provisions oftheTRIPS Agreement, being organized jointly withtheInternational Bureau
ofWIPO, willtakeplace on17September 1996 attheheadquarters ofWIPO, immediately before
theCouncil 'smeeting of18September 1996. Thepurpose oftheworkshop istoenable anexchange
ofviews ontechnical cooperation needs andexperiences related totheborder enforcement provisions
oftheAgreement. Speakers willinclude representatives offourWTO Members andofficials from
theWTO Secretariat, theInternational Bureau ofWIPO andtheWCO Secretariat.IP/C/W/36
Page3
9. TheSecretariat isorganizing aWorkshop ontheTRIPS Agreement forOfficials fromtheLeast-
Developed andOther Developing Sub-Saharan African Countries, financed fromtheNorwegian Trust
Fund. Theobjective oftheworkshop istofamiliarize officials withthebasic concepts, principles and
obligations laiddown intheTRIPS Agreement withaview tofacilitating itsimplementation. The
workshop willbeconducted inEnglish andwilltakeplace inGeneva from 7to11October 1996.
Another workshop ontheTRIPS Agreement forthesamegroup ofcountries, tobeconducted inFrench,
willbeorganized in1997. Speakers attheworkshop willinclude, inaddition toofficials from the
WTO, theheadoftheNorwegian Patent Office, aformer senior official oftheUnited Kingdom Patent
Office, anofficial from theInternational Federation ofthePhonographic Industry andofficials from
theInternational Bureau ofWIPO.
NGO Conferences
10. Someoftheconferencesofnon-governmentalorganizationsthathavebeenattendedbySecretariat
officials, whether inGeneva oroutside, havebeenofparticular interest alsotodeveloping countries.
Such conferences include oneonfarmers 'rights organized inAsia, oneoncurrent issues before the
Committee onTrade andEnvironment organized inGeneva, andoneontheTRIPS Agreement inAfrica.
Anofficial hasagreed toattend aconference onArabcountries andintellectual property laterthisyear.
Cooperation withWIPO andOther Intergovernmental Organizations
11. Itisclearfromwhathasbeensaidabove thattheWTO Secretariat andtheInternational Bureau
havecooperated onmany projects andareplanning more. Inthisregard, itshould berecalled that
theAgreement between theWIPO andtheWTO, which wasapproved bytheCouncil forTRIPS on
11December 1995 andwhich came intoeffect on1January 1996, provides forcooperation between
thetwoOrganizationsintheareasoflegal-technicalassistanceandtechnicalcooperation.TheAgreement
requires theInternational Bureau ofWIPO tomake available todeveloping country WTO Members
which arenotMembers ofWIPO thesame legal-technical assistance relating totheTRIPS Agreement
asitmakes available toMember States ofWIPO which aredeveloping countries. TheWTO Secretariat
isrequiredtoreciprocate.TheAgreementalsorequirestheInternationalBureauandtheWTOSecretariat
toenhance cooperation intheirlegal-technical assistance andtechnical cooperation activities relating
totheTRIPS Agreement fordeveloping countries, soastomaximize theusefulness ofthose activities
andensure theirmutually supportive nature. Asexplained above, theWTO Secretariat hascooperated
alsowithanumber ofother intergovernmental organizations including theARIPO, theUPOV, the
WCO andtheWHO.