WORLD TRADE IP/C/12
28november 1997
ORGANIZATION(97-5250)
Council forTrade-Related Aspects of
Intellectual Property Rights
ANNUAL REPORT (1997) OFTHE COUNCIL FOR TRIPS
I. GENERAL
1. Since theperiod covered byitslastreport1,theCouncil forTRIPS hasheldsixformal meetings,
on11-15 November 1996 andon27February, 26-30 May, 15July, 19September and
17-21 November 1997. Theminutes ofthese meetings aretobefound indocuments IP/C/M/11-16.2
2. Thefirsttwoofthemeetings referred toabove werechaired byAmbassador Wade Armstrong
(New Zealand). Theremainder were chaired byAmbassador Carmen LuzGuarda (Chile).
3. Meetings oftheCouncil wereopentoallWTO Members. Inaddition, governments observers
toWTO bodies wereinvited. TheCouncil, atitsmeeting of27February 1997, noted thattheGeneral
Council, atitsmeeting of7February 1997, hadgranted totheIMFandtheWorld Bankobserver status
intheGeneral Council andother WTO bodies asprovided forintheagreements between theWTO
andthese twoinstitutions. Inaddition, itdecided togrant regular observer status totheother
organizations thattheCouncil hadinvited toitsmeetings in1995and1996onanadhocbasis. Those
organizations aretheFAO, theOECD, UPOV (International Union fortheProtection ofNewVarieties
ofPlants), theUnited Nations, UNCTAD, theWCO andWIPO. Thedecision wasmade onthebasis
thattherewouldbereciprocitywithrespecttoproceedings,documentsandotheraspectsofobservership.
Decisions onrequests forobserver status fromtheCooperation Council oftheArabStates oftheGulf,
EFTA (European FreeTrade Association), theOAS(Organization ofAmerican States), theOIV(Office
International delaVigne etduVin), theOrganization oftheIslamic Conference, SELA (Latin American
Economic System) andSIECA (Permanent Secretariat oftheGeneral Treaty forCentral American
Economic Integration) arepending.
II. NOTIFICATIONS AND NOTIFICATION PROCEDURES
(i) Article 63.2
4. Thenotification procedures, adopted bytheCouncil atitsmeeting inNovember 1995, require
that,asofthetimethataMember isobliged tostartapplying aprovision oftheTRIPS Agreement,
thecorresponding lawsandregulations shallbenotified without delay (IP/C/2). Todate,31Members
havemade suchnotifications under Article 63.2withrespect toallormost oftheirimplementing
legislation relating toallprovisions oftheAgreement. Tenother Members havenotified legislation
while indicating thatthisiswithout prejudice totheirtransition period under theprovisions ofArticle 65.
Notifications concerning theimplementation ofArticle 70.8and,insome cases, Article 70.9ofthe
1Document IP/C/8
2Document IP/C/M/16 tobeissuedIP/C/12
Page2
TRIPS Agreement havebeenreceived from20Members; some ofthem indicate thatproduct patent
protectionforpharmaceuticaland/oragriculturalchemicalproductsisalreadyavailableintheirterritories.
Fournotifications relating specifically totheimplementation ofArticles 3,4and5oftheAgreement
havealsobeenreceived todate. Circulation ofnotifications under Article 63.2takes place inthe
IP/N/1/COUNTRY/- series ofdocuments.
5. AtitsNovember 1995meeting, theCouncil alsoagreed thatMembers would provide responses
toachecklist ofissues onenforcement (IP/C/5). Todate,30Members havenotified responses, one
ofwhich without prejudice toitsentitlements under Article 65.These responses havebeencirculated
intheIP/N/6/COUNTRY/- series ofdocuments.
6. Thenational treatment andMFN obligations ofArticles 3,4and5oftheTRIPS Agreement
became applicable toallMembers from1January 1996. Atitsmeeting inFebruary 1997, theCouncil
tooknoteofatextwhich ithaddeveloped asapractical aidtoassist delegations making notifications
oflawsandregulations relating toArticles 3,4and5oftheAgreement. Thetextwassubsequently
circulated indocument IP/C/9 entitled "Notifications ofLaws andRegulations relating toArticles 3,
4and5oftheTRIPS Agreement: Format forOneOption". Asnoted inthedocument, theCouncil
forTRIPS hasrecognized thatMembers haveanumber ofoptions formeeting theirobligation tonotify
those lawsandregulations thatcorrespond tothenational treatment andMFN obligations ofArticles 3,
4and5oftheAgreement. Three options inparticular havebeenidentified:
- notifying thespecific provisions oflawsandregulations thatimplement theobligations
setoutinArticles 3,4and5;
- making ageneral statement that nationals ofother WTO Members enjoy
non-discriminatory treatment, together withalistofanyexceptions tothatprinciple;
or
- notifying allintellectual property lawsandregulations.
Inrespect ofthesecond ofthese options, thedocument contains aformat, which wasdeveloped as
apractical aidtoassist Members availing themselves ofthisoption, without adding toorsubtracting
from therights andobligations ofMembers under theAgreement.
(ii) Articles 1.3and3.1
7. Articles 1.3and3.1oftheTRIPS Agreement, relating tothedefinition ofbeneficiary persons
under theAgreement andtonational treatment, allow certain exceptions tothenormal rulesonthese
matters, provided thatnotifications aremade totheCouncil forTRIPS. Twenty-five notifications have
beensubmitted under these provisions. These notifications arecontained intheIP/N/2/COUNTRY/-
series ofdocuments.
(iii) Article 4(d)
8. Article 4(d)oftheTRIPS Agreement requires aMember seeking tojustify anexception to
theMFN ruleonthebasisofaninternational agreement relating totheprotection ofintellectual property
which hadentered intoforcepriortotheentryintoforceoftheWTO Agreement tonotify thatagreement
totheCouncil forTRIPS. Todate,43notifications havebeenreceived under thisprovision. These
notifications arecontained intheIP/N/4/COUNTRY/- series ofdocuments.
9. Atitsmeeting inFebruary 1997, theCouncil noted theexistence oftheinformal background
notebytheSecretariat entitled "TheMost-Favoured-Nation Treatment Clause oftheTRIPS AgreementIP/C/12
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(Article 4)",thelastparagraph ofwhich wasintended asaninformal guideline toassist individual
Members inmaking orreviewing theirnotifications under Article 4(d).3Thetextofthisnote,revised
asrequested bytheCouncil totakeintoaccount points made atthemeeting, wascirculated asdocument
No.1548, dated 20March 1997. TheCouncil agreed torevert totheissue intheautumn of1997
soastotakestock ofthesituation atthattimeandinthelightofanyneworrevised notifications that
hadbeenmade. TheCouncil hadafurther exchange ofviews onthematter atitsSeptember 1997
meeting. FortheNovember meeting oftheCouncil, twomodified notifications were submitted.
(iv) Article 69
10. Article 69oftheTRIPS Agreement requires Members toestablish andnotify contact points
forthepurposes ofcooperating witheachother withaviewtoeliminating international tradeingoods
infringing intellectual property rights. Procedures forsuchnotifications wereagreed bytheCouncil
inSeptember 1995. Todate,81Members havenotified contact points. Themostrecent compilation
ofthese iscontained indocument IP/N/3/Rev.2 andaddenda.
(v) Notifications under other provisions oftheAgreement
11. Anumber ofnotification provisions oftheBerne andtheRome Conventions areincorporated
byreference intotheTRIPS Agreement butwithout being explicitly referred toinit.Todate, one
Member hasmade anotification under theseprovisions. Notifications ofthiskindarebeing circulated
intheIP/N/5/COUNTRY/- series ofdocuments.
(vi) Other
12. TheCouncil hasalsoreceived, todate,anumber ofcommunications fromMembers providing
information concerning theirstatus under thetransitional provisions ofArticle 65oftheAgreement.
Some ofthese communications weremade inconjunction withnotifications made under Article 63.2
(seeparagraph 4above). Sixother communications weremade separately fromanysuchnotification.
III. REVIEW OFNATIONAL LAWS AND REGULATIONS
13. TheCouncil continued itsreview ofnational lawsandregulations inaccordance withthe
"Schedule fortheConsideration ofNational Implementing Legislation in1996/1997" ithadadopted
atitsmeeting inNovember 1995(IP/C/3). Theprocedures, originally agreed atitsMay1996meeting
inrespect ofthereview oflegislation intheareaofcopyright andrelated rights, wereapplied tothe
subsequent reviews withnecessary modifications. These procedures provided forwritten questions
andreplies prior tothereview meeting, withfollow-up questions andreplies during thecourse ofthe
meeting. Atsubsequent meetings oftheCouncil, anopportunity wasgiven tofollow-up points that
hademerged fromthereview sessions which delegations considered hadnotbeenadequately addressed.
14. Legislation intheareas oftrademarks, geographical indications andindustrial designs of
30Members wasreviewed attheCouncil 'smeeting of11-15 November 1996. Legislation intheareas
ofpatents, layout-designs (topographies) ofintegrated circuits, protection ofundisclosed information
andcontrol ofanti-competitive practices incontractual licenses of33Members wasreviewed atthe
Council 'smeeting of26-30 May1997. AttheCouncil 'smeeting of17-21 November 1997, legislation
of32Members intheareaofenforcement wasreviewed. Therecords oftheintroductory statements
made bydelegations, thequestions puttothemandtheresponses given, including follow-up questions
andresponses thereto, arecirculated in,respectively, theIP/Q2/COUNTRY/-, IP/Q3/COUNTRY/-
3SeetheAnnex todocument IP/C/M/12.IP/C/12
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andIP/Q4/COUNTRY/- series ofdocuments. Anumber ofresponses tofollow-up questions arestill
pending.
15. Theminutes oftheCouncil 'sMay 1997 meeting record thefollowing statement bythe
Chairperson ontheissue ofpriority rights (IP/C/M/13, paragraph 39):
"The Chairperson saidthat,inthecontext ofthereview ofnational implementing
legislation notified under Article 63.2oftheAgreement, Members hadaddressed the
following question: 'Does yourcountry recognize arightofpriority onthebasis of
anearlier trademark application filedinanyother WTO Member byanational ofa
WTO Member? 'Asimilar question hadbeenposed toWTO Members withrespect
topatents. Itappeared thatinevery caseMembers didorwould (when theamendments
torelevant national lawsand/or regulations were inforce) recognize priority rights
based onanearlier application inanyother WTO Member byanational ofaWTO
Member. Acompilation ofthereplies received would becirculated asdocument
IP/C/W/73. Thequestion hadalsoarisen astowhether WTO Members currently bound
toapply allprovisions oftheTRIPS Agreement wereobligated toextend protection
under Article 6teroftheParis Convention tothose WTO Members thatwere not
members oftheParisConvention andwereavailing themselves ofatransitional period
under Article 65orArticle 66oftheTRIPS Agreement. Allevidence suggested that
thisobligation currently existed."
16. According totheschedule forthereview ofnational implementing legislation currently taking
place, asadopted inNovember 1995 (document IP/C/3), theCouncil would normally terminate this
exercise bytheendof1997. Atitsmeeting inSeptember 1997, theCouncil agreed tocomplete in
thespring of1998thereview offourMembers, whose legislation wasalready subject totheon-going
review butforwhom thereview would nothavebeencompleted bytheendoftheyear, because they
joined theexercise late.Furthermore, theCouncil agreed toreview intheautumn of1998thelegislation
ofthree Members, whohadacceded totheWTO during theperiod ofthecurrent review andwho,
while notapplying aTRIPS transition period, hadnotyetbeensubject tothereview.
17. Atitsmeeting inNovember 1996, theCouncil agreed thattheChair would consult in1997
withindividual Members whose legislation hadnotbeensubject tothepresent review exercise, but
whose legislation would havebeen, inwhole orinlargepart,brought intoconformity withtheTRIPS
Agreement inadvance. Thepurpose ofthose consultations bytheChair would betoseewhether there
wasscope forthelegislation ofsuchMembers tobeprogressively incorporated intothereview process
bytheCouncil aftertheconclusion ofthepresent review programme, i.e.attheearliest in1998, with
itbeing clearly understood thattheagreement ofaMember tothiswould bewithout prejudice tothe
legal situation regarding itsentitlements under Article 65andwould beintended asapractical
contribution tothework oftheCouncil. Inthelightoffurther discussion onthismatter attheCouncil 's
Julymeeting, theChairperson saidtheCouncil should develop ground rulesforsuchadvance reviews
soastogivesecurity toallMembers thatthereview would betaken uponavoluntary basisandwithout
prejudice totheirentitlements under Article 65,andthatreviewed legislation would notbesubmitted
toasecond review exercise intheyear2000. AttheCouncil 'sNovember 1997 meeting, theChair
informed theCouncil thattheChair'sinformal consultations onthismatter hadclarified thereadiness
ofatleastfiveMembers tobetaken upinsuchearly reviews inlate1998 orearly 1999, onthe
conditions laiddown inthedraftground rulesproposed bytheChair, buthadstillnotyetyielded the
necessary consensus among Members asawhole.IP/C/12
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IV. IMPLEMENTATION OFARTICLE 70.8AND 70.9
18. TheCouncilconsideredateachofitsmeetingstheimplementationofArticle70.8andtherelated
provisions ofArticle 70.9, andtooknoteofstatements bysome Members oftheirconcern thatnot
allMembers towhich these provisions applied were giving effect tothem or,intheevent thatthey
haddoneso,hadnotnotified therelevant legislation under Article 63.2.
19. Atitsmeeting inMay, theCouncil wasinformed ofamutually agreed solution toamatter
concerning these Articles, onwhich consultations hadbeeninitiated under theDispute Settlement
Understanding (IP/D/2/Add.1).
V. RELEVANT DEVELOPMENTS ELSEWHERE INTHE WTO
20. Atitsmeetings inFebruary andSeptember 1997, theCouncil wasinformed ofprovisions in
theprotocols ofaccession andreports ofworking parties ontheaccession ofthree countries tothe
WTO under Article XIIoftheWTO Agreement concerning theapplication oftheprovisions ofthe
TRIPS Agreement.
21. Atitsmeeting inNovember 1996, theCouncil tooknote,under "other business", ofstatements
concerning theterms ofaccession ofEcuador totheWTO concerning application oftheprovisions
oftheTRIPS Agreement. Atitsmeeting inJuly1997, theCouncil tooknoteofacommunication from
Ecuador onthematter (IP/C/W/74).
22. During theperiod under review, theCouncil wasinformed ofsixactions under theDispute
Settlement Understanding relevant totheTRIPS Agreement, asreflected indocuments IP/D/6-10 and
WT/DS50/6, andofthree mutually agreed solutions, asreflected indocuments IP/D/1/Add.1,
IP/D/2/Add.1 andIP/D/4/Add.1.
VI. TECHNICAL COOPERATION
23. TheCouncil hascontinued itswork inthisareaonthebasis oftheprocedures agreed atits
meeting inFebruary 1996. TheCouncil agreed thatthisyeardeveloped country Members would update
theinformation ontheirtechnical andfinancial cooperation activities pursuant toArticle 67ofthe
Agreement intimefortheCouncil 'smeeting inSeptember 1997, which hadaspecial focus ontechnical
cooperation. Forthesakeoftransparency, intergovernmental organizations observers totheTRIPS
Council alsopresented, ontheinvitation oftheCouncil, information ontheiractivities. Inaddition,
theWTO Secretariat provided information onitstechnical cooperation intheTRIPS area. This
information canbefound indocuments IP/C/W/77-79 andaddenda. Inthediscussion, theattention
oftheCouncil wasdrawn totheprovisions ofArticle 66.2oftheAgreement andtheobligations of
developed country Members under those provisions. Atitsmeeting inNovember 1997, theCouncil
continueditsdiscussionontechnicalcooperationinordertotakeintoaccounttheinformationontechnical
cooperation activities received justprior tooraftertheSeptember meeting.
24. Developed country Members havenotified contact points intheiradministrations which can
beaddressed bydeveloping countries seeking technical cooperation onTRIPS. Todate,22developed
country Members have notified their contact points fortechnical cooperation. Themost recent
compilation ofthese iscontained indocument IP/N/7/Rev.1 andaddenda.
25. TheSecretariatorganized,jointlywiththeInternationalBureauoftheWorldIntellectualProperty
Organization (WIPO), thesecond workshop onaspecific aspects oftechnical cooperation, which enabled
anexchange ofviews ontechnical cooperation needs andexperiences related totheimplementation
oftheTRIPS Agreement. Thetopicoftheworkshop, heldon14July1997, was"Technical CooperationIP/C/12
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Aimed atImproving Human Resources andInstitutional Capacities Required toImplement theTRIPS
Provisions onDomestic Enforcement".
VII. REVIEW OFTHE APPLICATION OFTHE PROVISIONS OFTHE SECTION ON
GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATIONS UNDER ARTICLE 24.2
26. AsagreedatitsmeetinginSeptember1996,theCounciltookupworkonthismatterbyincluding
ontheagenda ofitsNovember 1996 meeting anitem"Review oftheApplication oftheProvisions
oftheSection onGeographical Indications under Article 24.2" andaddressed thisagenda itemafter
andtaking intoaccount thereview ofnational implementing legislation intheareas oftrademarks,
geographical indications andindustrial designs scheduled forthatmeeting. TheCouncil agreed togive
further consideration tohowtheissue ofreviewing theapplication oftheprovisions oftheSection
ongeographical indications under Article 24.2would behandled through informal consultations, the
timing ofwhich would needtotakeintoaccount thesubmission ofproposals which delegations had
foreshadowed. Atitsmeeting inFebruary 1997, theCouncil hadafurther exchange ofviews onthis
matter inthecontext ofafollow-up toits1996report andconfirmed these arrangements forcarrying
forward thework. AttheCouncil 'sJuly1997 meeting, ithadanexchange ofviews onthismatter
onthebasis ofacommunication from adelegation (IP/C/W/75) andtwonon-papers. TheChair
announced herintention toholdinformal consultations prior totheCouncil 'sSeptember meeting.
Following theseconsultations, theChair called ondelegations tocontribute either byposing questions
orbysubmitting suggestions onthepurpose of,andtheprocedures for,thereview foreseen under
Article 24.2. AttheCouncil 'smeeting inNovember 1997, theChair informed theCouncil thatseven
Members hadpresented theirviews inwriting intheperiod JulytoNovember 1997. TheChair is
continuing toholdinformal consultations onthismatter withaview toproposing adecision atthe
Council 'ssecond meeting in1998.
VIII. IMPLEMENTATION OFARTICLE 23.4
27. Initsreport (1996), theCouncil agreed toinitiate in1997preliminary work onissues relevant
tothenegotiations specified inArticle 23.4oftheAgreement concerning theestablishment ofa
multilateral system ofnotification andregistration ofgeographical indications forwines, andthatissues
relevant toanotification andregistration system forspirits would bepartofthispreliminary work
(IP/C/8, paragraph 34). Atitsmeeting inFebruary, theCouncil initiated thiswork byagreeing on
aninformation-gathering activity. Members were invited tosubmit information onanysystems for
theregistration ofgeographical indications which theyoperated. Todate,information hasbeenreceived
fromeleven Members, which canbefound indocuments IP/C/W/76 andAddenda 1-11. Atitsmeeting
inSeptember 1997, theCouncil considered thisinformation andagreed torequest theSecretariat to
prepare abackground noteonnotification andregistration systems fortheCouncil 'swork under
Article 23.4inaccordance withanoutline reproduced inanAnnex todocument IP/C/M/15. This
notehasbeencirculated asdocument IP/C/W/85; itwillbeconsidered attheCouncil 'sfirstmeeting
in1998.