RESTRICTED
WORLD TRADE IP/C/W/79
8September 1997
ORGANIZATION(97-3601)
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/36, dated 10September 1996. Itcovers
those activities thathavebeenundertaken since September 1996.
2. General information ontheSecretariat 'stechnical cooperation andtraining activities canbe
found inthefollowing documents. Theguidelines forWTO technical cooperation, adopted bythe
Committee onTrade andDevelopment on15October 1996, arecontained indocument WT/COMTD/8,
andtheimplementation modalities fortheadministration oftechnical cooperation activities arecontained
indocument WT/COMTD/W/29, dated 25July1997. Ageneral report ontheSecretariat 'stechnical
cooperation andtraining wascirculated indocument WT/COMTD/W/21, dated 21November 1996,
andanassessment oftechnical cooperation andtraining indocument WT/COMTD/W/23, dated
3February1997.Athree-yearplanfortechnicalcooperationpreparedbytheSecretariatfortheapproval
oftheCommittee canbefound indocument WT/COMTD/W/25 anditsaddendum, dated 12Mayand
1August 1997. Amanual ontechnical cooperation andtraining, contained indocument
WT/COMTD/W/26/Rev.1, dated 17July1997, provides adescription oftechnical cooperation and
trainingactivitiesavailableintheWTO,howMemberscanbenefitfromsuchassistanceandhowrequests
should befiledtoparticipate intheactivities.
3. Thepurpose ofthisdocument istoprovide additional information ontheSecretariat 'stechnical
cooperation activities thatspecifically relate tointellectual property. However, itshould benoted that
many ofthegeneral technical cooperation activities described intheabove mentioned documents cover
intellectual property. Secretariat officials working onintellectual property matters haveparticipated
intheseactivities totheextent possible. Suchactivities haveincluded seminars, workshops andtraining
courses aimed atproviding anoverall appreciation oftheWTO provisions andmechanisms heldin
Geneva andoutside Geneva andother assistance. Itmight alsobenoted thateachregular WTO Trade
Policy Course includes aonedaypresentation ontheTRIPS Agreement, andtheparticipants inthese
courses spend halfadayattheWorld Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), learning about that
Organization, itsconventions andactivities.
4. Inaddition, thetraining material andother documentation prepared bytheSecretariat contain
information ontheTRIPS Agreement. Inorder tofacilitate thedissemination ofinformation onthe
WTO multilateral trading system through modern technology, acomputer-based interactive technical
assistance/training package isbeing developed thatwillbeusedtointroduce theWTO, including the
TRIPS Agreement, inthesame manner asthrough ageneral seminar. Inorder toassist Members in
understanding anddischarging more efficiently theirnotification obligations under theAgreements,
theSecretariat circulated intheautumn of1996 aTechnical Cooperation Handbook onNotification
Requirements. Thisdocument provides Members inasingle instrument withacomplete viewofthe
notification obligations contained inalltheAgreements, aswellasmodels oftheformats which shouldIP/C/W/79
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beusedtoprepare notifications. Thepartconcerning theTRIPS Agreement canalsobefound ina
separate document WT/TC/NOTIF/TRIPS/1, dated 15October 1996. Thenewtopical pages on
intellectual property ontheWTO official website, located ontheinternet atwww.wto.org, contain
awealth ofinformation ontheTRIPS Agreement, andprovide linkstoinformation contained onthe
official website ofWIPO. Oneofthefeatures ofthewebsite isthedatabase called Documents on-line
from which anyone cannowdownload unrestricted andderestricted (i.e.public) WTO documents,
including documents oftheTRIPS Council, directly totheircomputers.1
Main Orientations
5. Thefocus oftheSecretariat 'stechnical cooperation activities specifically inrelation toTRIPS
hascontinued tobeonassisting Members tounderstand therights andobligations which flowfrom
theTRIPS Agreement, andthishasbeenaimed athelping Members toassess theamendments that
maybeneeded totheirnational legislation, theadaptations ininstitutions thatmaybecalled forand
other requirements forwhich theywould needtoplan. Thepurpose hasalsobeentoassist Members
toparticipate 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. Importance hasbeenattached toensuring
complementarity andcooperation withother intergovernmental organizations, inparticular WIPO.
Themainmodes ofsupply fortechnical cooperation specifically relating totheTRIPS Agreement have
beeninformation andadvice given toMembers inGeneva, seminars andworkshops fordeveloping
countries and,toalesser extent, NGO conferences.
Information andAdvice Given toMembers inGeneva
6. 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 ofnotification requirements under theAgreement
andmatters under discussion intheTRIPS Council. Matters havebeenraised withtheSecretariat
notonlybylocaldelegations butalso,toaconsiderable extent, byvisiting intellectual property officials
andasaresult ofdirect contacts fromofficials incapitals byphone orinwritten form. Often theissues
raised relate todraftlegislation under consideration. Advice andinformation hasalsobeengiven to
officials from acceding countries andrepresentatives oftheprivate sector.
Seminars andWorkshops forDeveloping andAcceding Countries
7. TheSecretariat provided speakers toseveral international andregional seminars devoted in
whole orinlarge parttotheTRIPS Agreement ortoaspecific aspect oftheAgreement andaimed
tobeofbenefit toofficials directly concerned withimplementation oftheAgreement. These seminars
includedanumberofmajorregionalsymposiaontheimplementationoftheTRIPSAgreementorganized
byWIPO.Inaddition,theSecretariatofficialshaveparticipatedinsomenationalseminarsonintellectual
property, andcarried outasmall number oftechnical missions. Forreasons ofpersonnel constraints,
1Thetextsofthelawsandregulations attached tonotifications under Article 63.2oftheAgreement arenotcontained
intheDocuments On-line database, since theyhavenotgenerally beenputintomachine-readable formbytheWTO Secretariat.
However, asprovided inArticle 2(4)oftheAgreement between theWIPO andtheWTO, theWTO Secretariat transmits
totheInternational Bureau ofWIPO copies ofsuchtexts, andtheInternational Bureau places suchcopies initscollection.
Information onthiscollection, including work onthecreation ofafull-text database, canbefound inparagraphs 1697-1700
oftheWIPO Activities Report for1996 contained indocument IP/C/W/78/Add.1.IP/C/W/79
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theSecretariat wasnotabletorespond toalldemands fornational seminars andtechnical missions.
However, many international andregional seminars provided theSecretariat anopportunity toassist
hostgovernments onspecific issues. Some oftheconferences ofnon-governmental organizations that
were attended bySecretariat officials were ofparticular interest alsotodeveloping countries. The
financial assistance oftheInternational Bureau ofWIPO made itpossible forWTO Secretariat officials
toparticipate inWIPO organized meetings outside Geneva. Participation oftheSecretariat officials
incertain other seminars wasalsofinanced bythehostsororganizers. Annex tothisdocument contains
alistoftechnical cooperation missions outside Geneva intheTRIPS area. Inaddition, theSecretariat
provided speakers toanumber ofseminars andtraining programmes organized inGeneva byothers,
notably WIPO.
8. TheSecretariat heldinGeneva twoworkshops ontheTRIPS Agreement forofficials from
theleast-developed andother developing Sub-Saharan African countries. They werefinanced from
theNorwegian contribution totheWTO Trust Fund. Theobjective oftheworkshops wastofamiliarize
officials withthebasic concepts, principles andobligations laiddown intheTRIPS Agreement with
aviewtofacilitating itsimplementation. Thefirstworkshop washeldinEnglish inOctober 1996,
andthesecond inFrench inJune1997. Forty-seven officials from33Sub-Saharan African countries
participated intheseworkshops. Speakers included, inaddition toofficials fromtheWTO Secretariat,
officials fromMember governments, theInternational Bureau ofWIPO andexperts fromtheprivate
sector.
9. TheSecretariatorganized,jointlywiththeInternationalBureauWIPO,twoworkshopsonspecific
aspects oftechnical cooperation, which enabled anexchange ofviews ontechnical cooperation needs
andexperiences related totheimplementation oftheTRIPS Agreement. Thefirstworkshop onthe
"Border Enforcement Provisions oftheTRIPS Agreement" washeldinSeptember 1996. Inaddition
toofficials fromtheWTO Secretariat andtheInternational Bureau ofWIPO, experts fromEgypt, Hong
Kong-China, Japan andtheUnited States, aswellastheSecretariat oftheWorld Customs Organization
made presentations. Thesecond workshop on"Technical Cooperation Aimed atImproving Human
Resources andInstitutional Capacities Required toImplement theTRIPS Provisions onDomestic
Enforcement" washeldinJuly1997. Inaddition toanofficial oftheInternational Bureau ofWIPO,
experts from theEuropean Commission, Mexico andThailand, aswellastheSecretariat forthe
International Federation ofthePhonographic Industry (IFPI) made presentations.
Cooperation withWIPO andOther Intergovernmental Organizations
10. Itisclearfromwhathasbeensaidabove thattheWTO Secretariat andtheInternational Bureau
ofWIPO havecooperated extensively. Inthisregard, itshould berecalled thattheAgreement between
theWIPO andtheWTO, which 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. TheWTO Secretariat hascooperated alsowithanumber
ofotherintergovernmentalorganizationsincludingtheAfricanRegionalIndustrialPropertyOrganization
(ARIPO), theEuropean Patent Office (EPO) andtheWHO.IP/C/W/79
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ANNEX
Technical Cooperation Missions intheTRIPS Area
4-6September 1996 Morocco Meeting oftheATRIP (International Association
fortheAdvancement ofTeaching andResearch in
Intellectual Property), organized byWIPO
10-14 September 1996 Switzerland First International AIPPI (International Association
fortheProtection ofIndustrial Property) Forum on
"Strategic Issues ofIndustrial Property
Management andGlobalizing Economy"
2-6October 1996 United Arab Emirates Technical mission
4October 1996 Germany HAI(Health Action International) seminar on
"GATT, Pharmaceutical Policies andEssential
Drugs"
4November 1996 Honduras Seminar onTRIPS heldinconjunction withthe
second meeting oftheFTAA Working Group on
IPRs
16October 1996 Singapore Seminar on"WTO 'sNew Intellectual Property
Rights &ItsImpact onLocal Business", organized
bytheSingapore Trade Development Board
21-23 October 1996 Cuba WIPO Seminars ontheTRIPS Agreement
10-13 November 1996 Bahrain International Conference ofDrug Regulatory
Authorities, organized bytheWHO
24November -
2December 1996Pakistan WIPO Seminars ontheImplications oftheTRIPS
Agreement
9-13 December 1996 Zambia Workshop ontheTRIPS Agreement, organized by
theARIPO (African Regional Industrial Property
Organization) andtheCommonwealth Secretariat
15-17 January 1997 Singapore WIPO Asian Regional Round Table onthe
Implementation oftheTRIPS Agreement
5-7March 1997 Tanzania WIPO Regional Symposium ontheEconomic
Importance ofIntellectual Property andon
Enforcement ofRights under theTRIPS
Agreement
11-12 March 1997 Malaysia WIPO Asian Regional Symposium ontheTRIPS
Agreement
12-14 March 1997 Colombia WIPO Regional Symposium forLatin American
andCaribbean Countries ontheEconomic
Importance ofIntellectual Property Rights andon
Enforcement under theTRIPS Agreement
22-23 March 1997 Egypt Technical missionIP/C/W/79
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25-26 March 1997 Lebanon Symposium ontheEvolution ofIPRs, organized
bytheFrench/Arab Chamber ofCommerce
4April 1997 Netherlands Course forpost-graduate students (lawyers) from
Central andEastern European countries, organized
byAsser Institute
7-8April 1997 Argentina Round Table ontheTRIPS Agreement, organized
bytheArgentine Patent Office (INPI) forHeads of
MERCOSUR industrial property offices
22-24 April 1997 Benin WIPO Regional Workshop ontheTRIPS
Agreement
9-11 June 1997 Hungary Seminar onTRIPS, organized bytheEPO
(European Patent Office)
17-19 June 1997 Jordan WIPO Regional Symposium ontheTRIPS
Agreement
1-3July1997 Azerbaijan WIPO-EPO Seminar ontheImplications ofthe
TRIPS Agreement
18-19 July1997 Chinese Taipei APEC Symposium onIPREnforcement, organized
bytheNational Institute ofIndustrial Property of
Chinese Taipei andtheMexican Institute of
Industrial Property