RESTRICTED  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  IP/C/W/119/Rev.1 
2 December 1998 
 (98-4874) 
Council for Trade-Related Aspects  
of Intellectual Property Rights   
 
 
 
DRAFT ANNUAL REPORT (1998) OF THE COUNCIL FOR TRIPS 
 
Revision  
  I. GENERAL 
1. Since the period covered by its last report
1, the Council for TRIPS has held [ five]  formal 
meetings, on 24 February, 12 May, 16 July, 17 September [ and 1-2 December 1998] .  The minutes of 
these meetings are to be found in documents IP/C/M/17-[ 21].2 
2. The first of the meetings referred to above was chaired by Ambassador Carmen Luz Guarda 
(Chile).  The remainder were chaired by Ambassador István Major (Hungary). 
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.  [ Decisions on requests for observer status from [ten] eleven  
organizations are pending.3] 
II. NOTIFICATIONS AND NOTIFICATION PROCEDURES 
 (i) Article 63.24 
4. The notification procedures, adopted by the Counc il 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, [
34] 
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.  [ Eight]  other Members have 
made notifications relating specifically to the implementation of Articles 3, 4 and 5 of the 
Agreement.5  Notifications concerning the implementa tion of Article 70.8 and, in some cases, 
Article 70.9 of the TRIPS Agreem ent have been received from [ 23] Members;  some of them indicate 
that product patent protection for pharmaceutical a nd/or agricultural chemical products is already 
available in their territories.   
5. The notification procedures also specify that a Member who has amended a law or regulation 
to bring it into conformity with provisions of the TRIPS Agreement in advan ce of its obligation under 
the TRIPS Agreement to start applying these provisi ons will use its best endeavours to notify such 
law or regulation as soon as possible after its entry into force.  [ Three]  Members have made such 
                                                      
1 Document IP/C/12 
2 Document IP/C/M/21 to be circulated. 
3 The organizations in question are listed in document IP/C/W/52/Rev.3. 
4 Circulation of notifications referred to in  paragraphs 4 and 5 below takes place in the 
IP/N/1/COUNTRY/- series of documents.  Those referred to in paragraph 6 below have been circulated in the 
IP/N/6/COUNTRY/- series of documents. 
5 A practical aid to assist delegations making the re quired notification is available in document IP/C/9. IP/C/W/119/Rev.1 
Page 2  
 
notifications.  Other notifications i ndicating that they are made without prejudice to a transition period 
under the provisions of Article 65 have been received from [
five]  Members.  
6. At its November 1995 meeting, the Council al so agreed that Members would provide 
responses to a checklist of issues on en forcement (IP/C/5).  To date, [35]  36 Members have notified 
responses, two of which have been made wit hout prejudice to entitlements under Article 65. 
(ii) Articles 1.3 and 3.16 
7. Articles 1.3 and 3.1 of the TRIPS Agreement, re lating to the definition of beneficiary persons 
under the Agreement and to national treatment, allo w certain exceptions to the normal rules on these 
matters, provided that notifications are made to the Council for TRIPS.  Under these provisions, [ 25] 
Members have submitted such notifications. 
 (iii) Article 4(d )7 
8. Article 4(d) of the TRIPS Agreement requires a Member seeking to justify an exception to the 
MFN rule on the basis of an inte rnational agreement 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.8  To date, [ 49] notifications have been received under this 
provision from [ 34] Members. 
 (iv) Article 699 
9. 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 Council 
in September 1995.  To date, [86]  87 Members have notified contact points. 
 (v) Notifications under other provisions of the Agreement  
10. A number of notification provisions of the Berne and the Rome Conventions are incorporated 
by reference into the TRIPS Agreem ent but without being explicitly re ferred to in it.  To date, [two] 
Members have made notifications under the provisions of Article 14 bis(2)(c) as applicable under the 
TRIPS Agreement and one Member has made notifi cations under provisions of the Appendix to the 
Berne Convention so applicable.10 
11. Having received the first notifications relating to  the provisions of the Appendix to the Berne 
Convention, the Council, at its May and July mee tings, looked into how, under the TRIPS Agreement, 
the renewable ten-year periods for which such notifi cations remained valid should be calculated.  At 
the request of the Council, the Secretariat prepared a background note11 on this question and, at its 
meeting in July 1998, the Council took note of the following statement by its Chairperson, in the light 
of informal consultations held on the matter12: 
"The provisions of Article I(2) of the Appendi x as incorporated into the TRIPS Agreement 
can be understood so that, for the purposes of th e TRIPS Agreement, the relevant periods are 
                                                      
6 Circulation of these notifications takes place in the IP/N/2/COUNTRY/- series of documents. 
7 Circulation of these notifications takes place in the IP/N/4/COUNTRY/- series of documents. 
8 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. 
9 The most recent compilation of these contact points is contained in document IP/N/3/Rev.3. 
10 Circulation of  these notifications takes place in the IP/N/5/COUNTRY/- series of documents. 
11 Document IP/C/W/103 
12 See document IP/C/14  IP/C/W/119/Rev.1 
 Page 3 
 
 
calculated by reference to the same date, i.e. 10 October 1974, as for the purposes of the 
Berne Convention.  This would mean that rene wable periods of ten years would be the same 
for the purposes of both Agreements, and that, also under the TRIPS Agreement, the period of ten years currently running would expire on 10 October 2004." 
 (vi) Other
 
12. The Council has also received, to date,  a number of communications from Members 
providing information concerning their status under the transitional provisions of Article 65 of the 
Agreement.  Some of these communications were ma de in conjunction with notifications made under 
Article 63.2 (see paragraph 4 above ).  Six other communications were  made separately from any such 
notification.13 
III. REVIEW OF NATIONAL LAWS AND REGULATIONS 
13. As agreed at its meetings in September and November 1997, the Council continued in the first 
part of 1998 the review of six Members whose legislation had already been subject to the 1996/1997 review exercise but for whom the review had not been completed by the end of 1997.  Including the questions of the Checklist of Issues on Enforcement ( document IP/C/5), the review of the legislation 
of the 33 Members taken up in the period between 1996 and the first part of 1998 generated responses 
to some 5000 questions recorded in some 3000 pages of documentation.
14  A number of responses to 
follow-up questions are still pending. 
14. [Furthermore, the Council reviewed in the autu mn of 1998 the legislation of three Members, 
who had negotiated their accession to the WTO and,  while not applying a TRIPS transition period, 
had not yet been subject to the review.]  
15. At its meeting in September 1998, the Council was informed that consultations by the 
Chairperson of the Council that had been held on possible advance reviews of the legislation of 
Members whose legislation had not been subject  to the 1996/1997 review exercise, but whose 
legislation had already been, in whole or in part, brought into conformity with the TRIPS Agreement 
had not generated a consensus among all Members.  In the light of further consultations that the 
Chairperson had held in order to explore the possi bilities for spreading out th e future workload that 
the Council would face in the year 2000, it was agreed that the Chair would consult with those Members that had been open to advance reviews of  their legislation to see if they would be in a 
position to have their legislation reviewed in the first part of 2000, so as to initiate the post-2000 
review of legislation.  It was also agreed th at consultations would be held on the practical 
arrangements that would need to be put in place for the reviews of the national implementing 
legislation of developing countries after 1 January 2000.  At its meeting in December, the Chair 
informed the Council that seven Members with whom he had been consulting had agreed to 
have their TRIPS implementing legislation reviewed in the first part of 2000.  Consultations with these Members have been held on the understa nding that, in order for a review in the first 
part of 2000 to work, the required notifications would need to be made during 1999.  One of the 
                                                     
 
13 To the extent that these notifications were made in conjunction with a notification under Article 63.2, 
they have been circulated in the IP/N/1/COUNTRY/- se ries of documents.  When made separately, they are 
available in an IP/C/- document. 
14The records of the introductory statements made by delegations, the questions put to them and the 
responses given, including follow-up questions and resp onses thereto, are circulat ed in, respectively, the 
IP/Q/COUNTRY/- (copyright and related rights), IP/Q 2/COUNTRY/- (trademarks, geographical indications 
and industrial designs), IP/Q3/COUNTRY/- (patents, layout-designs of integrated circuits, undisclosed 
information and the control of anti-competitive prac tices in contractual licences) and IP/Q4/COUNTRY/- 
(enforcement) series of documents.  The responses to the Checklist of Issu es on Enforcement are circulated in 
the IP/N/6/- series of documents. IP/C/W/119/Rev.1 
Page 4  
 
Members in question has indicated that, if it co uld not notify before 1 January 2000, because of 
translation difficulties, it would do so in the early days of January 2000.  
16. As regards the consultations that he had held  on practical arrangements for the reviews 
of the legislation of other developing country  Members, the Chair has been consulting in 
particular about whether these reviews should be organized on a subject-by-subject basis, or by 
dividing the work between groups of countries.  Delegations are urged to inform the Chair or 
the Secretariat of their thinking on this matter in the weeks ahead, so that the Chair would be in a position to put to the Council early next year a suggestion for a schedule of reviews. 
IV. IMPLEMENTATION OF ARTICLE 70.8 AND 70.9 
17. The Council continued its consideration of the implementation of Article  70.8 and the related 
provisions of Article 70.9. After the discussion at its meeting in February 1998 of a suggestion for a 
systematic review of the implementation of these provisions, the Chairperson noted that, while there 
was not a consensus among Members to follow the suggestion, it was open to delegations to put 
questions on this matter on the floor of th e Council or bilaterally.  Since then, [
one Member]  has 
asked [ a question]  on the floor of the Council about the contents of a notification made [ by another 
Member] relating to Article 70.8 and 70.9.  [ Another Member]  informed the Council that it had 
communicated bilaterally questions regarding the obligations under these provisions to several Members, but had not received responses to these questions.  The questions that this Member had asked bilaterally were subsequently circulated to all Members
15 and the question of a review of the 
implementation of Article 70.8 an d 70.9 was placed on the agenda  of at the Council's meeting in 
December 1998 , responses to these questions were received from one Member and some other 
Members indicated that they were preparing thei r responses.  The Chair is to hold informal 
consultations on how to carry forward the work on the implementation of Article 70.8 and 70.9 . 
V. IMPLEMENTATION OF ARTICLE 66.2 
18. As a result of the discussion of the implementation of Article 70.8 and 70.9 at its meeting in 
September 1998, the Council agreed that the ques tion of a review of the implementation of Article  6.2 
be placed on the agenda of its meeting in December 1998.  took up a discussion of the 
implementation of Article 66.2, which requi res developed country Members to provide 
incentives to enterprises and institutions in th eir 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 technological base.  
VI. RELEVANT DEVELOPMENTS ELSEWHERE IN THE WTO 
19. During the period under review, the Council was informed of four five actions under the 
Dispute Settlement Understanding re levant to the TRIPS Agreement, as reflected in documents 
IP/D/11-14 5 and of the settlement of three disputes through the adoption by the DSB of, in [ two] 
cases, panel reports (document IP/D/6/Add.1 and IP /D/7/Add.1 and corrigendum) and, in the other 
case, of a panel report together with, and as modifi ed by, a report of the Appellate Body (document 
WT/DS50/9).  At its meeting in Fe bruary 1998, the Council took note of a number of statements made 
in relation to the adopted panel and Appella te Body reports in dispute WT/DS50.  At the Council's 
meeting in December, a number of delegations expressed views on the dispute initiated by the 
European Communities and their member States concerning patent protection in Canada for 
pharmaceutical products.  The Council was also informed of the imminence of a mutually 
agreed bilateral solution to one dispute.  
                                                      
15 As regards notifications relating to Article 70.8 and 70.9, reference is made to paragraph 4 above.  IP/C/W/119/Rev.1 
 Page 5 
 
 
VII. TECHNICAL COOPERATION 
20. 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 unde r review, several delegations informed the Council 
of specific technical cooperation activities made ava ilable 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 1998, which had a special focus on 
technical cooperation.  For the sake of transparency , intergovernmental organizations observers to the 
TRIPS Council also presented, on the invitation of the Council, information on their activities.  In 
addition, the WTO Secretariat provided information on its technical cooperation in the TRIPS area.  
This information can be found in documents IP /C/W/108-110 and Addenda.  At its meeting in 
December 1998, the Council continued its discussion on technical cooperation in order to take into 
account the information on technical cooperation ac tivities received just prior to or after the 
September meeting. 
21. At its meeting in July 1998, the Council was informed that the WTO Secretariat had been 
working with its colleagues in WIPO on how to en hance their existing cooperation in the field of 
technical cooperation based on the Agreement en tered into between the two Organizations on 
1 January 1996, particularly in the light of the i mminence of the end of the general transition period 
for developing countries on 1 January 2000 and the need to be as efficient as possible in making available technical cooperation in the intervening period so as to maximize the assistance that they 
were in a position to provide.  The WTO Secretariat had agreed with WIPO on a joint initiative to this 
effect.  Under this joint initiative, the Dire ctors-General of the two Organizations sent 
communications to Ministers of each of the countri es concerned, underscoring the commitment of the 
two Organizations to do all within their capacity to provide, on request, technical assistance.  Two 
annexes had been attached to this joint letter, ai med at facilitating a stocktaking, in the capitals of 
those Members that wished to do  so, of where they were with TRIPS compliance, how far they 
needed to go in order to comply by the year 2000  and, therefore, what assistance would be useful to 
them.  One annex concerned a checklist of main requi rements of the Agreement and the other a list of 
the forms of assistance that could be offered by the tw o Secretariats.  Both Secretariats reported in 
September that replies to the letter had begun to come in from developing country Members. 
22. As agreed in July 1996, contact points in developed country Members' administrations which 
can be addressed by developing countries seeking tec hnical cooperation on TRIPS are to be notified.  
To date, 27 Members have notified their contact points for technical cooperation.
16 
23. The Secretariat organized, jointly with the In ternational Bureau of the World Intellectual 
Property Organization (WIPO), a third workshop on a specific aspect of technical cooperation with a 
view to enabling an exchange of views on techni cal cooperation needs and experiences related to the 
implementation of the TRIPS Agreement.  The t opic of the workshop, held on 16 September 1998, 
was "The Process of Implementation of the TRIPS Agreement". 
VIII.  REVIEW OF THE APPLICATION OF THE PROVISIONS OF THE SECTION ON 
 GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATIONS UNDER ARTICLE 24.2 
24. The Council continued its consideration of this matter in 1998.  Further informal 
consultations resulted in a draft Checklist of Ques tions about national regime s for the protection and 
enforcement of geographical indications.  At its me etings in May and July 1998, the Council took 
note of the questions that had b een suggested by individual Member s for inclusion in this Checklist 
and invited those Members already under an obliga tion to apply the provisions of the Section on 
                                                      
16 The most recent compilation of these contact point s is contained in docu ment IP/N/7/Rev.2 and 
addenda. IP/C/W/119/Rev.1 
Page 6  
 
Geographical Indications to provide their respon ses by 16 November 1998, it being understood that 
other Members could also furnish replies on a voluntary basis.
17  By the time of the Council's 
December meeting, replies had been received fr om the European Communities and a number of 
their member States and from 12 other Members.18  After a first discussion on the basis of these 
responses, the Council agreed to revert to this matter at its next meeting.  
IX. IMPLEMENTATION OF ARTICLE 23.4 
25. The Council continued its preliminary work initiated in 1997 on issues relevant to the 
negotiations specified in Article 23.4 of the Agre ement 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 of the Council’s 
report (1996).19  The information-gathering process agr eed by the Council in 1997 had generated 
12 submissions from Members on systems for the regi stration of geographical indications which they 
operated20 and a background note, prepared by the Secret ariat, on existing notification and registration 
systems for geographical indications relating to wines and spirits.21  During the period under review, 
the discussions focused on the question of what the next step should be for carrying forward work 
concerning negotiations for the establishment of a multilateral system for the notification and 
registration of geographical indications under Artic le 23.4.  A proposal received from the European 
Communities in July 1998 was commented upon by many delegations at the Council's meeting in 
September.  At the Council's meeting in December, the representative of the European 
Communities and their member States provided de tailed reactions to the points made in 
September and a large number of Members made  further comments, both in regard to the 
proposal of the European Comm unities and their member States and of a more general nature.  
The Council will revert to this matter at its next meeting, with a view to organizing its discussion at its next meeting, the Council agreed  that the Chair should come forward with 
suggestions for a more structured approach to the issues under debate.  
X. TRADE FACILITATION 
26. Following a letter received in September 1998 from the Chairman of the Council for Trade in 
Goods, the Council agreed to take up this issue in December 1998.  This letter requested The purpose 
of the TRIPS Council's work on the matter should be to address those aspects of trade facilitation 
which the TRIPS Council regards as being related to the TRIPS Agre ement.   The TRIPS Council is 
expected to convey the results of its discussions  on the issue by March 1999 to the Council for Trade 
in Goods.   Following informal consultations on the matter, the Council agreed, at the December 
meeting, to request the Secretariat to prepa re a short background note on the relationship 
between the TRIPS Agreement and trade facilitat ion.  The Council would revert to the matter 
at its next meeting, with a view to concluding its discussions at that meeting, so as to be able to 
report to the Council for Trade in Goods in March 1999, as requested.  
XI. ELECTRONIC COMMERCE 
27. In September 1998, the General Council a dopted a work programme on electronic 
commerce22, as a follow-up to the Declaration on Global Electronic Commerce adopted by Ministers 
at the Ministerial Conference in May 1998.  As pa rt of this work programme, the Council for TRIPS 
shall examine and report - by 30 July 1999 - on the intellectual property issues arising in connection 
                                                      
17 Document IP/C/13 and addendum 
18 Document IP/C/W/117 and addenda 
19 Document IP/C/8 
20 Documents IP/C/W/76 and addenda 
21 Document IP/C/W/85 
22 Document WT/L/274  IP/C/W/119/Rev.1 
 Page 7 
 
 
with electronic commerce, including issues concerni ng the protection and enforcement of copyright 
and related rights;  the protection and enforcemen t of trademarks;  and new technologies and access to 
technology.  At its meeting in December 1998, the Council heard a presentation from the 
observer from WIPO on the work of that Organizat ion in this area and had an initial exchange 
of views, mainly in informal session.  The Co uncil agreed to request the Secretariat to prepare a 
factual background note examining the provi sions of the TRIPS Agreement relevant to 
paragraph 4.1 of the Work Programme on Electro nic Commerce.  The note should also provide 
information on the relevant activities of WIPO and other intergovernmental organizations.  The Council will revert to the matter at its next meet ing, at which it should prepare its progress 
report for the General Council.  Before that time, the Chair will hold further informal 
consultations.  Members were urged to make national contributions.  
XII. REVIEW OF THE PROVISIONS OF ARTICLE 27.3(B) 
28. At the Counci
l'sits meeting in September December  1998, the Council had an initial 
exchange of views on how the review of the Chairperson drew the attention of the Council to the 
provisions of Article 27.3(b) of the Agre ement, which require a review of the these  provisio ns due 
four years after the entry into force of the WTO Agreement, i.e. in 1999 , .  It was agreed to have an 
initial exchange of views in December 1998 on how this review  should be carried out.  In the light of 
informal consultations on the matter, the Chair proposed that the Council initiate the review 
process in the following way.  First, those Members that are already under an obligation to 
apply Article 27.3(b) would be invited to provid e information on how the matters addressed in 
this provision were presently treated in their na tional law.  Other Memb ers would be invited to 
provide such information on a best endeavours basis.  The target date for the provision of this 
information would be 1 February 1999.  Second,  while it would be left to each Member to 
provide information as it would see fit, having regard to the specific provisions of Article 27.3(b), the Secretariat would be requested  to provide an illustrative list of questions 
relevant in this regard in order to assist Memb ers to prepare their contributions.  Third, the 
Secretariat would be requested to contact the FAO, the Secretariat of the Convention on 
Biological Diversity and UPOV, to request factual information on their activities of relevance.  
It would be understood that this information-gathering would be without prejudice to the nature of the review provided for in Article 27.3( b).  Once this information would have been 
received, the Council would revert to the question of whether any further information might be 
requested from the Secretariat.  This proposal of the Chairman was adopted by the Council, in 
the case of one delegation on an ad referendum  basis.  
XIII.  ARTICLE 64.3 
29. At the Council's meeting in September 1998, th e Chairperson drew the attention of the 
Council to the provisions of Article 64.3, which requi re the examination, before the end of 1999, of 
the scope and modalities for complaints of the type  provided for under Article XXIII:1(b) and (c) of 
GATT 1994 made pursuant to the TRIPS Agreement.  It  was agreed to have an initial exchange of 
views in December 1998 on the work to be done and to  request the Secretariat to prepare a factual 
background note on the experience with disputes so far under the TRIPS Agreement, including any references made to non-violation issues, the negotiati ng history of paragraphs 2 and 3 of Article 64 of 
the TRIPS Agreement, the experience with non-vi olation complaints under the GATT/WTO, and any 
information available on the use of the non-violation concept in disputes on intellectual property 
elsewhere.  As agreed, the Council had an initial exchange of views at its December 1998 
meeting.  The Council will revert to this matter at its next meeting, by which time it expects to 
have the Secretariat factual background note as well as a contribution that has been foreshadowed by a Member.  
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