WORLD TRADE IP/C/W/78/Add.1
15September 1997
ORGANIZATION(97-3632)
Original: English/ Council forTrade-Related Aspects
ofIntellectual Property Rights French/
Spanish
TECHNICAL COOPERATION ACTIVITIES: INFORMATION FROM
OTHER INTERGOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS
Addendum
World Intellectual Property Organization
Thepresent document reproduces theupdated information ontechnical andfinancial cooperation
activities relevant totheimplementation oftheTRIPS Agreement, which hasbeenreceived fromthe
World Intellectual Property Organization bymeans ofacommunication, dated 15August 1997.
_______________
Iampleased toattach, withthisletter, theWIPO Activities Report for1996, initsEnglish,
French andSpanish versions. Chapter IIofthereport gives extensive details oftheactivities carried
outunder thesaidprogram. Inaddition, thereisadescription ofWIPO 'scooperation withWTO that
summarizes cooperation between thetwoorganizations forthebenefit ofdeveloping countries. This
description isgiven under theheading "Cooperation withtheWorld Trade Organization" which ispart
ofChapter VIIofthereport.
TheWIPO activities report inrespect ofthefirstsixmonths of1997willbeready shortly and
willbesenttoyouassoonaspossible.
_______________
TheAnnex reproduces paragraphs 1684 to1704 oftheWIPO Activities Report for1996.
Thecomplete report isavailable intheWTO Secretariat forconsultation byinterested delegations,
andontheWIPO website atwww.wipo.int.IP/C/W/78/Add.1
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ANNEX
Cooperation withtheWorld Trade Organization (WTO)
1684. OnJanuary 1,1996, theAgreement Between WIPO andtheWTO entered intoforce. The
saidAgreement established arrangements forcooperation between WIPO andtheWTO inrespect of
thefollowing three areas:
(i) notification byWTO Members ofthetexts oftheirintellectual property lawsand
regulations intheiroriginal language andwhere thatlanguage isnotEnglish, French
orSpanish, alsoinatranslation inoneofthese three languages; assistance byWIPO
inpreparing suchtranslations; collection ofthesaidtextsandtranslations byWIPO;
furnishing ofcopies ofthetexts ortranslations; access toWIPO ’scomputerized
database ofthesaidtextsandtranslations;
(ii) receipt byWIPO ofcommunications ofState emblems byWTO Members and
notification ofthesame totheother Members;
(iii) legal-technical assistance byWIPO todeveloping country WTO Members; cooperation
between WIPO andtheWTO inthelegal-technical assistance andtechnical cooperation
activities.
1685. Itisrecalled thatinOctober 1995, theWIPO General Assembly agreed thattheInternational
Bureau should make arrangements soastobeabletorespond torequests from developing countries
toWIPO forlegalandtechnical assistance relating totheTRIPS Agreement andshould report tothe
sessions oftheGoverning Bodies in1996 onthetypeandrecipients ofthese activities, including a
study conducted byWIPO onfinancial andother implications oftheimplementation oftheTRIPS
Agreement fordeveloping countries. TheGeneral Assembly alsoagreed thattheInternational Bureau
should expand thecoverage oftheTRIPS Agreement inexisting WIPO development cooperation
activities.
1686. Pursuant totheabove-mentioned decisions oftheWIPO General Assembly andtothe
WIPO-WTO Agreement, theInternational Bureau carried out,in1996, anextensive program of
development cooperation activities relating totheTRIPS Agreement andtocooperation withtheWTO.
Theactivities were organized inresponse totherequests andwishes ofthedeveloping countries
concerned andtookaccount ofthetimeframe available tothem formeeting theirobligations under
theTRIPS Agreement. Many oftheactivities wereentirely focused ontheTRIPS Agreement, inits
totality orsingling outforexamination oneormore aspects ofthatAgreement. Other activities dealt
withcertain elements oftheTRIPS Agreement butalsocovered traditional areasofWIPO ’sdevelopment
cooperation program notdirectly related toobligations under theAgreement, suchasthepromotion
ofinventive activities andtheuseofpatent documentation. Thework thatwascarried outisdescribed
indetail inChapter IIofthisdocument, indicating foreachactivity whether itdealtentirely orpartly
withtheobligations under theTRIPS Agreement.
1687. Overall, atotalof122developing countries andtwoterritories benefited from those WIPO
development cooperation activities which either dealt entirely withtheTRIPS Agreement orhada
componentrelatingtothatAgreement;theywere:AFGHANISTAN,ALGERIA,ANGOLA,ANTIGUA
AND BARBUDA, ARGENTINA, BAHAMAS, BAHRAIN, BANGLADESH, BARBADOS, BENIN,
BHUTAN, BOLIVIA, BOTSWANA, BRAZIL, BRUNEI DARUSSALAM, BURKINA FASO,
BURUNDI,CAMBODIA,CAMEROON,CAPEVERDE,CENTRALAFRICANREPUBLIC,CHAD,
CHILE, CHINA, COLOMBIA, COMOROS, CONGO, COSTA RICA, CÔTED’IVOIRE, CUBA,IP/C/W/78/Add.1
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DEMOCRATIC PEOPLE ’SREPUBLIC OFKOREA, DJIBOUTI, DOMINICA, DOMINICAN
REPUBLIC,ECUADOR,EGYPT,ELSALVADOR,EQUATORIALGUINEA,ERITREA,ETHIOPIA,
FIJI, GABON, GAMBIA, GHANA, GRENADA, GUATEMALA, GUINEA, GUINEA-BISSAU,
GUYANA, HAITI, HONDURAS, INDIA, INDONESIA, IRAN (ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF),IRAQ,
JAMAICA,JORDAN,KENYA,KUWAIT,LAOS,LEBANON,LESOTHO,LIBYA,MADAGASCAR,
MALAWI, MALAYSIA, MALDIVES, MALI, MAURITANIA, MAURITIUS, MEXICO,
MICRONESIA (FEDERATED STATES OF), MONGOLIA, MOROCCO, MOZAMBIQUE,
MYANMAR, NAMIBIA, NEPAL, NICARAGUA, NIGER, NIGERIA, OMAN, PAKISTAN,
PANAMA, PAPUA NEW GUINEA, PARAGUAY, PERU, PHILIPPINES, QATAR, REPUBLIC
OFKOREA, RWANDA, SAINT KITTS AND NEVIS, SAINT LUCIA, SAINT VINCENT AND
THEGRENADINES,SAMOA,SAOTOMEANDPRINCIPE,SAUDIARABIA,SENEGAL,SIERRA
LEONE, SINGAPORE, SOUTH AFRICA, SRILANKA, SUDAN, SURINAME, SWAZILAND,
SYRIA,THAILAND,TOGO,TONGA,TRINIDADANDTOBAGO,TUNISIA,UGANDA,UNITED
ARABEMIRATES,UNITEDREPUBLICOFTANZANIA,URUGUAY,VANUATU,VENEZUELA,
VIETNAM,YEMEN,ZAIRE,ZAMBIA,ZIMBABWE,BRITISHVIRGINISLANDS,HONGKONG.
Ofthose countries, 51received advice from theInternational Bureau regarding thedrafting ofnew
legislation ortherevision ofexisting legislation, allofwhich tookaccount oftherelevant provisions
oftheTRIPS Agreement. Inaddition, 81seminars orcourses hadprograms which wereeither wholly
devoted to,ordealt withcertain features of,theTRIPS Agreement. Atotalofapproximately
5,310developingcountrynationalslearnedabouttheTRIPSAgreementfromthoseseminarsandcourses,
ofwhich 573hadtheirtravel andliving expenses financed byWIPO.
1688. Highlighted below areseven features ofthedevelopment cooperation activities relating tothe
TRIPS Agreement andtocooperation withtheWTO which areparticularly noteworthy.
1689. First,WIPO organized four"mega symposiums" ontheTRIPS Agreement; theywere the
RegionalSymposiumsontheImplicationsoftheTRIPSAgreementwhichtookplaceinallthedeveloping
regions, thatis,inApril, inAbidjan forFrench-speaking African countries; inPretoria, inthesame
month, forEnglish-speaking African countries; inMay, inJakarta, forAsian andPacific countries
and,laterthatmonth, inCaracas forLatin American andCaribbean countries. Those four"mega
symposiums" wereorganized intheformofpanel discussions. InDecember 1995, WIPO hadorganized
asimilar symposium inCairo, forArabcountries. Toallthefivesymposiums wereinvited developing
members oftheWTO. Theformat ofpanel discussions inthefivesymposiums, where thediscussions
wereledeither bytheDirector General, aDeputy Director General oranAssistant Director General
ofWIPO, proved asuccess.
1690. Second ,WIPO published astudy entitled "Implications oftheTRIPS Agreement onTreaties
Administered byWIPO". Thisstudy takesonebyoneeachofthe73Articles oftheTRIPS Agreement
and,where theArticle seems tohave"implications" onanyWIPO-administered treaty, dwells longer
ontheArticle andpoints out,unless obvious, anypossible change intheobligations ofaStatewhich
isparty totheTreaty inquestion andwhich isalsoamember oftheWTO andtherefore isorwill
bebound bytheTRIPS Agreement. Itistobenoted thatthisstudy doesnotconstitute anofficial
interpretation oftheWIPO-administered treaties, theTRIPS Agreement oranyother official textin
thefieldofintellectual property. Thestudy isavailable inArabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian
andSpanish andhasbeenwidely distributed toallthedeveloping country member States ofWIPO
and/or theWTO aswellastotheother States.
1691. Third,theInternationalBureaucommissionedfourstudiesonthefinancialandotherimplications
oftheimplementation oftheTRIPS Agreement fordeveloping countries toUNCTAD, theInstitute
forEconomic Research inMunich (upon therecommendation oftheCEC), aprivate American
international business counselor (upon therecommendation oftheUSPTO), andtheMinistry ofIndustry
andTrade ofHungary. Those studies were widely circulated tointerested parties.IP/C/W/78/Add.1
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1692. Fourth ,staffmembers oftheWTO Secretariat wereinvited toseminars andother meetings
organized byWIPO anddealing, ormainly dealing, withtheTRIPS Agreement. Their travel and
living expenses wereborne byWIPO iftheevents were outside Geneva. Thus, forexample, WTO
officials participated asspeakers ineachofthefour"mega symposiums" referred toabove, aswell
asin11other WIPO seminars andcourses in1996.
1693. Fifth,inconjunction withthe1996 session ofthePermanent Committee onDevelopment
Cooperation Related toIndustrial Property (PC/IP), which tookplace inJuneinGeneva, aspecial
seminar devoted toenforcement questions under theTRIPS Agreement washeldfordelegates tothe
PC/IP andtomembers ofthePermanent Missions based inGeneva.
1694. Sixth,inSeptember, WIPO organized, jointly withtheWTO, aWorkshop onTRIPS andBorder
Enforcement inGeneva. TheWorkshop wasattended by120participants fromgovernment departments
concerned withintellectual property enforcement issues invarious countries andPermanent Missions
based inGeneva.
1695. Seventh ,in1996, theInternational Bureau issued aspecial printed brochure which contains,
inasingle volume, thetextoftheWIPO-WTO Agreement andthetextsdirectly orindirectly referred
tointhatAgreement, including theTRIPS Agreement. Itisintended asaconvenient toolfor
understanding theinterrelations among those texts. Thebrochure (WIPO Publication No.223)is
available inEnglish, French andSpanish.
1696. During theperiod under review, WIPO gavetotheWTO Secretariat, onthelatter’srequest,
copies ofalmost 300intellectual property laws, regulations and/or translations, where aWTO Member
hadstated thetextstobeavailable inthecollection ofWIPO inthecontext ofanotification under
Article63.2oftheTRIPSAgreement.ThesaidlawsandregulationswereinEnglish,FrenchorSpanish,
aswellasinfourother languages when theoriginal wasinalanguage other thanEnglish, French or
Spanish.
1697. During thesame period, WIPO received from theWTO Secretariat thetextofover
600intellectual property lawsandregulations and/or translations which hadbeennotified totheWTO
Secretariat under Article 63.2oftheTRIPS Agreement byWTO Members, andintegrated these into
itscollection. Thesaidtextswere inEnglish, French andSpanish aswellasin10other languages
when theoriginal wasinalanguage other thanEnglish, French orSpanish.
1698. During thesaidperiod, WIPO designed andestablished abibliographic database ofintellectual
property lawsandregulations andstarted toenter therein, asapriority, information related totexts
notified byWTO Members under Article 63.2oftheTRIPS Agreement, andexchanged between WIPO
andtheWTO under theAgreement. Thesaidbibliographic database willeventually cover allintellectual
property lawsandregulations available inthecollection ofWIPO, whether WTO-notified ornot.
1699. Also, work started onthecreation ofaWIPO full-text database ofintellectual property laws
andregulations, which, inaccordance withtheAgreement, shallbeaccessible toWTO Members and
nationals ofWTO Members onthesame terms astheyapply totheMember States ofWIPO, andto
nationals oftheMember States ofWIPO.
1700. Numerous translations ofintellectual property legaltextscontinued tobecarried outbyWIPO,
mainly forthepurpose ofpublication inpaper (legislative inserts ofthemonthly review Industrial
Property andCopyright/La Propriété industrielle etleDroit d´auteur )andelectronic (theCD-ROM
IPLEX )formats.IP/C/W/78/Add.1
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1701. Asregards Stateemblems, inJanuary 1996, WIPO communicated totheWTO Members not
party totheParis Convention, thearmorial bearings, flagsandother State emblems ofthecountries
party totheParis Convention, andtheofficial signs andhallmarks indicating control andwarranty
adopted bythem, aswellasthearmorial bearings, flagsandother emblems, abbreviations andnames
ofinternational intergovernmental organizations thathadsofarbeencommunicated tothecountries
party totheParis Convention inaccordance withArticle 6terofthatConvention. Intheremainder
ofthereporting period, similar communications (five) weremade byWIPO tothose States notparty
totheParis Convention which hadbecome WTO Members, aftertheabove (January) communication
hadbeenmade.
1702. Throughout thisreporting period, there were almost daily working contacts between the
International Bureau andtheWTO Secretariat concerning thecooperative activities ofthetwo
Organizations.
1703. Astotherepresentation ofWIPO inWTO-organized meetings, thefollowing should benoted:
(i) inFebruary, April, June, July,October andNovember, WIPO wasrepresented atthe
meetings oftheGeneral Council oftheWTO, heldinGeneva;
(ii) inFebruary, May, July, September andNovember, WIPO wasrepresented atthe
meetings oftheCouncil forTRIPS oftheWTO, heldinGeneva;
(iii) inMarch, 25government officials from 16Latin American countries enrolled inthe
Trade-Policy Course oftheWTO, visited WIPO andwerebriefed byWIPO officials
onWIPO ’sactivities andintellectual property ingeneral;
(iv) inJune, 24government officials enrolled intheTrade-Policy Course forEastern and
Central European andCentral Asian Countries oftheWTO visited WIPO andwere
briefed onWIPO ’sactivities andintellectual property ingeneral;
(v) inJuly, twoWIPO officials made presentations onWIPO ingeneral, itslatest
norm-settingactivities,andthecooperationactivitiesundertheWIPO-WTOAgreement,
ataninformation meeting formembers oftheWTO Appellate Body, organized by
theWTO atWIPO ’sheadquarters;
(vi) inOctober, aWIPO official participated inapanel discussion attheWTO Workshop
ontheTRIPS Agreement forparticipants from17sub-Saharan African countries, held
inGeneva;
(vii) alsoinOctober,23governmentofficialsfrom22developingcountriesandoneterritory,
andtwoofficialsfromtwointergovernmentalorganizationsenrolledinthefourthWTO’s
Trade Policy Course visited WIPO andwere briefed byWIPO officials onWIPO ’s
activities andintellectual property ingeneral;
(viii) inDecember, aWIPO official attended asanobserver thefirstWTO Ministerial
Conference, heldinSingapore.
1704. During thereporting period, WTO officials attended several meetings organized inGeneva
byWIPO suchas,interalia,sessions oftheGoverning Bodies ofWIPO, theCommittee ofExperts
onaPossible Protocol totheBerne Convention, theCommittee ofExperts onaPossible Instrument
fortheProtection oftheRights ofPerformers andProducers ofPhonograms, theWIPO Diplomatic
Conference onCertain Copyright andNeighboring Rights Questions, andtheCommittee ofExperts
onthePatent LawTreaty.