IP/C/71  
 
29 October 2015  
(15-5731)  Page: 1/4  
  
 
  ANNUAL REPORT (2015) OF THE COUNCIL FOR TRIPS 
 
 
1  GENERAL  
1.1.  Since the period covered by its 2014 report1, the Council for TRIPS has held three formal 
meetings, on 24-25 February, 9-10 June and 15-16 October. The minutes of these meetings are to 
be found in documents IP/C/M/78 and IP/C/M/7 8/Add.1, IP/C/M/79 and IP/C/M/79/Add.1, and 
IP/C/M/80 and IP/C/M/80/Add.1.2 
1.2.  The meeting in February was chaired by  Ambassador Mothusi Palai (Botswana) and the 
meeting in June by Ambassador Abdolazeez Al-Otaibi (the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia). Since the 
Chairman was absent from the October meeting, the Council elected Ambassador Alfredo Suescum 
(Panama) as interim Chair for that meeting.   
1.3.  The meetings of the Council were open to all WTO Members, other governments with 
observer status in WTO bodies and certain international intergovernmental organizations granted 
observer status in the Council. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV), 
the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the United Nations (UN), 
the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the World Bank, 
the World Customs Organization (WCO) and the Worl d Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) 
enjoy regular observer status in the TRIPS Council. The World Health Organization (WHO) has 
ad hoc observer status in the Council. At its meeting in March 2002, the Council agreed to a 
request from the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) for observer status during the Council's discussions on the TRIPS Ag reement and public health at that and future 
meetings. At its meetings in June 2010 and November 2012, the Council agreed to grant ad hoc 
observer status on a meeting-by-meeting basis to the African Regional Intellectual Property 
Organization (ARIPO), the African Intellectual Property Organization (OAPI), the Cooperation 
Council of the Arab States of the Gulf (GCC) and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA). 
Pursuant to this, ARIPO, OAPI, the GCC and EFTA were invited to attend each formal meeting on an ad hoc basis. Decisions on requests for observer status from 13 other organizations are pending.
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2  NOTIFICATIONS UNDER THE PROVISIONS OF THE AGREEMENT 
2.1.  The Council took note of notifications of new or revised legislative measures under various 
provisions of the TRIPS Agreement. At the Co uncil's meetings, the delegations of Australia, 
Bahrain, Canada, Colombia, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Montenegro, Panama, the Russian 
Federation and Chinese Taipei provided further back ground to the notifications they had filed. To 
date, 132 Members have notified, pursuant to Article 63.2, all or part of their implementing 
legislation relating to all provisions of the Agreement. 105 Members have provided responses to 
the Checklist of Issues on Enforcement. Duri ng the reporting period, a number of Members 
updated their earlier notifications of laws an d regulations, and several of them provided 
explanations of the significance of this new an d amended legislation. 138 Members have notified 
pursuant to Article 69 contact points for the purposes of cooperating with each other with a view 
to eliminating international trade in goods infringing intellectual property rights. The Council was 
                                               
1 Document IP/C/68. 
2 Documents IP/C/M/80 and IP/C/M/80/Add.1 to be circulated. 
3 The organizations in question are li sted in document IP/C/W/52/Rev.13. IP/C/71 
 
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  briefed on the Secretariat's ongoing efforts to  streamline arrangements for submitting and 
managing notifications, and for developing an on-line information service so as to improve the accessibility of this material. 
3  REVIEWS OF NATIONAL LAWS AND REGULATIONS 
3.1.  At its meeting in February, the Council completed its review of the implementing legislation 
of the Russian Federation. The Council also followed  up the review of Tajikistan and took note of 
the outstanding material required to complete the pending reviews of two other Members. 
4  REVIEW OF THE PROVISIONS OF ARTI CLE 27.3(B); RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE 
TRIPS AGREEMENT AND THE CONVENTION ON BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY; AND PROTECTION OF TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE AND FOLKLORE 
4.1.  Following the practice in its past meetings that delegates address these three agenda items 
together, the Council continued to discuss them together on the basis of contributions by 
Members. This included the earlier suggestion that the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological 
Diversity (CBD) be invited to brief the Council  on the outcome of the tenth meeting of the 
Conference of the Parties to the CBD held in Nagoya, Japan in October 2010, and on the 
suggestion that the WTO Secretariat be requested to update three factual notes that summarized the points delegations had made in the Council's past discussions on these three agenda items. 
5  NON-VIOLATION AND SITUATION COMPLAINTS 
5.1.  At the Council's meeting in February and June, the Council continued its examination of the 
scope and modalities for non-violation and situation complaints, including on the basis of a communication form the United States entitled "Non-Violation Complaints under the TRIPS 
Agreement" (IP/C/W/599). At its meeting in June, the Council had before it a communication from 
Argentina, the Plurinational State of Bolivia, Brazil, China, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Malaysia, Pakistan, Peru, the Russian Federation, Sri Lanka and the Bolivarian 
Republic of Venezuela, entitled "Non-Violation and Situation Nullification or Impairment under the 
TRIPS Agreement" (IP/C/W/385/Rev.1). At its meetin g in October, the Council had before it a draft 
Ministerial decision on "Non-Violation and Situation Complaints" submitted by the same Members 
(IP/C/W/607). Both communications were co-sponsored by the African Group 
(IP/C/W/385/Rev.1/Add.1 and IP/C/W/607/Add.1)  and the LDC Group (IP/C/W/385/Rev.1/Add.2 
and IP/C/W/607/Add.2). The Council agreed to keep open this agenda item and to reconvene the 
meeting once further developments were sufficiently mature, with a view to the Council agreeing 
on a recommendation to the Ministerial Conference.
  
6  REVIEW OF IMPLEMENTATION OF THE TRIPS AGREEMENT UNDER ARTICLE 71 
6.1.  No statements were made or documents submitted by delegations under this agenda item. 
7  REVIEW OF THE APPLICATION OF THE PROVISIONS OF THE SECTION ON 
GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATIONS UNDER ARTICLE 24.2 
7.1.  The Chair invited those delegations that ha d not yet provided responses to the Checklist of 
Questions (IP/C/13 and Add.1) to do so, and said  that those Members that had already provided 
responses could provide updates to the extent there had been any significant changes to the way they provided protection to geographical indica tions. In line with the Council's recommendation 
made in March 2010, he also encouraged Members to share information on bilateral agreements 
related to the protection of geographical indications into which they had entered. During the 
reporting period, China and the European Union shared information on bilateral agreements at the Council's meeting in February.  
8  REVIEW UNDER PARAGRAPH 8 OF THE DECISION ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF 
PARAGRAPH 6 OF THE DOHA DECLARATION ON THE TRIPS AGREEMENT AND PUBLIC HEALTH 
8.1.   At its meeting in October, the Council took up the annual review, pursuant to paragraph 8 of 
the Decision, of the functioning of the system set out in the Decision. The Council's report to the IP/C/71 
 
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  General Council on the operation of the system set out in the Decision will be circulated in the 
IP/C/- series of documents. The Council agreed to forward to the General Council a proposal for a decision to extend the period of acceptance by Members of the Protocol Amending the TRIPS 
Agreement until 31 December 2017.
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9  IMPLEMENTATION OF ARTICLE 66.2 
9.1.  At its meeting in February, the Council fo llowed up its twelfth annual review of developed 
country Members' reports on their implementation of Article 66.2.  
9.2.  At its meeting in October, the Council t ook up its thirteenth annual review of developed 
country Members' reports on their implementation of Article 66.2. For this review, the Council received the fifth set of new detailed reports on actions they had taken or planned in pursuance of their commitments under Article 66.2 from the fo llowing developed country Members: Japan; New 
Zealand; Canada; Switzerland; Australia; the United States; Norway; as well as the European 
Union and individual member States, namely Austri a, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Ireland, 
Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. This do cumentation is being circulated in document 
IP/C/W/611 and addenda. 
10  TECHNICAL COOPERATION AND CAPACITY-BUILDING 10.1.  At its meeting in February, the Council followed up its annual review of technical 
cooperation held at its meeting in October 2014. 
10.2.  At its meeting in June, the Council invited developed country Members to supply information 
on their activities pursuant to Article 67 of the TRIPS Agreement prior to the annual review of technical cooperation at its meeting in October. Intergovernmental organizations that have 
observer status in the TRIPS Council were invited to provide information on their activities of 
relevance and, further, the WTO Secretariat was requested to report on its activities. In preparation for the annual review it held at its meeting in October, the Council received updated 
information from the following developed country Members: Japan; New Zealand; Canada; 
Switzerland; Australia; the United States; Norway; and the European Union and individual member States, namely Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, 
Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom (being 
circulated in IP/C/W/610 and addenda). Updated in formation was also received from the following 
intergovernmental organizations: the FAO; th e GCC; the OECD; the WCO; UNCTAD; the WHO; 
UPOV; and WIPO (being circulated in IP/C/W/ 609 and addenda), as well as from the WTO 
Secretariat (IP/C/W/608).  
10.3.  Also at its meeting in June, the Council had a constructive exchange of views on the 
assistance that might be required by Members that are yet to accept the Protocol Amending the 
TRIPS Agreement with a view to facilitating the completion of domestic procedures required to 
enable them to lodge an instrument of acceptance. 
11  REQUEST FOR AN EXTENSION OF THE TR ANSITIONAL PERIOD UNDER ARTICLE 66.1 
FOR LEAST DEVELOPED COUNTRY MEMBERS WITH RESPECT TO PHARMACEUTICAL 
PRODUCTS AND FOR WAIVERS FROM THE OBLIGATION OF ARTICLES 70.8 AND 70.9 
11.1.  At the Council's meeting in February, Bangladesh, on behalf of the LDC Group, introduced 
under "Other Business" a "Request for an Extension of the Transitional Period Under Article 66.1 
for Least Developed Country Members With Respect to Pharmaceutical Products and for Waivers 
from the Obligation of Articles 70.8 and 70.9" that had been submitted by the LDC Group on 
23 February (IP/C/W/605). At the request of Bangla desh, on behalf of the LDC Group, the Council 
had its first substantive discussion of that communication at its meeting in June. At its meeting in 
October, the Council agreed to keep open this agenda item and to reconvene the meeting once 
further developments were sufficiently mature, with  a view to the Council taking a decision.   
                                               
4 Document IP/C/70. IP/C/71 
 
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  12  INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AND I NNOVATION: WOMEN AND INNOVATION 
12.1.  At the request of the European Union, Japa n, Norway, Turkey and the United States, at its 
February meeting the Council had on its agenda an  item on "Intellectual Property and Innovation: 
Women and Innovation". 
13  INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AND INNOVATION: THE ROLE OF INTELLECTUAL 
PROPERTY IN FINANCING INNOVATION 
13.1.  At the request of Switzerland and the Un ited States, and co-sponsored by the European 
Union and Singapore, at its June meeting the Council had on its agenda an item on "Intellectual 
Property and Innovation: The Role of Intellectual Property in Financing Innovation". 
14  INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AND INNOVA TION: ENTERPRENEURIALISM AND NEW 
TECHNOLOGIES  
14.1.  At the request of Australia, the European Union, Singapore, Chinese Taipei and the United 
States, at its October meeting the Council had on its agenda an item on "IP and Innovation: Entrepreneurialism and New Technologies".  
15  CONCERNS WITH RESPECT TO MEASUR ES RELATED TO PLAIN PACKAGING OF 
TOBACCO PRODUCTS AND THEIR COMPAT IBILITY WITH THE TRIPS AGREEMENT 
15.1.  At the request of the Dominican Republic, at its February meeting the Council had on its 
agenda an item on "Concerns with Respect to Prop osals for Plain Packaging of Tobacco Products in 
the United Kingdom and Ireland". 
16  OBSERVER STATUS FOR INTERNATIONAL INTERGOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS 16.1.  The Council continued its consideration of the pending requests for observer status from 
international intergovernmental organizations, and requested the Chair to continue his 
consultations on the requests from the five IGOs that had recently provided updated information, as well as on the requests from the remaining eight organizations that had not yet updated their 
information. 
17  OTHER BUSINESS 17.1.  At the Council's meetings in February, June and October, Ecuador informed the Council 
about the steps it was taking to advance its proposal regarding the issue of the contribution of 
intellectual property to facilitate the transfer of environmentally sound technology. 
 
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