IP/C/80  
 
3 November 2017  
(17-5997) Page: 1/5 
    
 
 
ANNUAL REPORT (2017)  OF THE COUNCIL FOR T RIPS  
1  GENERAL  
1.1.  Since the period covered by its 2016 report1, the Council for TRIPS has held an extraordinary 
meeting on 30 January 2017 to take note of the entry into force of the amended 
TRIPS  Agreement, as well as three regular formal meetings, on 1 -2 March, 13 June and 
19-20 October 2017. The minutes of these meetings are to be found in documents IP/C/M/84 and 
IP/C/M/84/Add.1, IP/C/M/85 and IP/C/M/85/Add.1, IP/C/M/86 and IP/C/M/86/Add.1 
and IP/C/M/87 and IP/C/M/87/ Add.1.2 
1.2.  The meeting in January was chaired by Ambassador Modest Jonathan Mero (United Republic 
of Tanzania), the meeting in March by Ambassador Alfredo Suescum (Panama) as interim Chair, 
and the meetings in June and October by Ms Irene Young (Hong Kong, Ch ina). 
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 (FA O), 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 World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) 
enjoy regular observer status in the TRIPS Council. The World Health Organization (WHO) has 
ad hoc observer status in the Cou ncil. 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 Agreement and public health at that and future 
meetings. At i ts 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 Coop eration 
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. At its meeting in October 2017, the Council agreed to grant regular observer 
status to ARIPO and OAPI. Decisions on requests for observer status from 13 other organizations 
are pending.3 
2  NOTIFICATIONS UNDER THE PROVISIONS OF TH E AGREEMENT  
2.1.  The Council took note of notifications of new or revised legi slative measures under various 
provisions of the TRIPS  Agreement. At the Council's meetings, the delegations of China; Ecuador; 
the European Union; Hong Kong, China; Japan; Mexico; Montenegro; Norway; Switzerland; and 
Chinese Taipei provided further backgr ound to the notifications they had filed. At its meeting in 
October, the Council had before it a communication from India containing questions to 
the European Union on enforcement of intellectual property rights regarding goods in transit 
(IP/C/W/636). To date, 134 Members have notified, pursuant to Article  63.2, all or part of their 
implementing legislation relating to all provisions of the Agreement. 109 Members have provided 
responses to the Checklist of Issues on Enforcement. During the reporting period , a number of 
Members updated their earlier notifications of laws and regulations, and several of them provided 
                                                
1 Document IP/C/75.  
2 Documents IP/C/M/87 and IP/C/M/87/Add.1 to be circulated.  
3 The organizations in question are listed in document IP/C/W/52/Rev.13. For more information, see 
also https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/trips_e/xtrips_e/igo_observ er_e.htm .  IP/C/80  
 
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  explanations of the significance of this new and amended legislation. 141  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 
regularly updated on the Secretariat's ongoing efforts to streamline arrangements for submitting 
and mana ging 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 March, the Council completed the review of the implementing legislation of  
Saint Kitts and Nevis, as well as of Seychelles. The Council also completed the review 
of the implementing legislation of Kazakhstan at its meeting in June.  
4  REVIEW OF THE PROVIS IONS OF ARTICLE 27.3 (B); RELATIONSHIP BE TWEEN 
THE TRIPS AGREEMENT AND THE CONV ENTION ON BIOLOGICAL  DIVERSITY; AND 
PROTECTION OF TRADIT IONAL 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 contri butions by 
Members, including as regards the patentability of life forms and the introduction of a mandatory 
disclosure requirement in the TRIPS Agreement. This discussion also covered the earlier 
suggestion that the Secretariat of the Convention on Biolog ical 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 SITUAT ION COMPLAINTS  
5.1.  As mandated by the Ministerial Decision taken at the tenth Ministerial Conference in Nairobi 
(WT/L/9 76), the Council continued to consider the application of non -violation and situation 
complaints under the TRIPS Agreement at each of its three regular meetings, including by 
reference to earlier communications (IP/C/W/599, IP/C/W/385/Rev.1 and addenda, as  well as 
IP/C/W/607 and addenda). The discussion also covered a suggestion that an earlier Secretariat 
summary note be updated. At its meeting in October, the Council agreed to keep open the agenda 
item and to reconvene on a short notice once further work was sufficiently mature with a view to 
agreeing on its recommendation to the eleventh Ministerial Conference.  
6  REVIEW OF IMPLEMENTA TION OF THE TRIPS AG REEMENT UNDER ARTICL E 71 
6.1.  At the Council's meetings in March and June, the Chair recalled that the Council was required 
under Article  71 TRIPS to review the Agreement, having regard to the experience gained in 
the implementation, and that it had not discharged this obligation. Delegations were encouraged 
to consider how to take forward this mandated review.  
7  REVIEW OF THE APPLICATI ON OF THE PROVISIONS  OF THE SECTION ON 
GEOGRAPHICAL INDICAT IONS UNDER ARTICLE 2 4.2 
7.1.  At its regular meetings in March, June and October, the Chair invited delegations that had not 
yet provided responses to the Checklist of Questions (IP/C /13 and Add.1) to do so, and also called 
upon other Members that had already provided responses to provide updates to the extent there 
had been any significant changes to the way they provided protection to geographical indications. 
In line with the Counci l's recommendation made in March 2010, Members were also encouraged 
to share information on bilateral agreements related to the protection of geographical indications 
into which they had entered. At the Council's meeting in October, Switzerland presented i ts 
updated responses to the Checklist of Questions (IP/C/W/117/Add.13/Rev.1).  
8  REVIEW OF THE SPECIA L COMPULSORY LICENSI NG SYSTEM  
8.1.  At its extraordinary meeting on 30 January, the Council took note of the entry into force of 
the Protocol Amending the TRIPS Agr eement upon acceptance by two thirds of the Members. IP/C/80  
 
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  The Chair called for further work to fully exploit the potential of the Special Compulsory Licensing 
System to deliver affordable medicines to countries in need. Members made suggestions for 
possible act ion, including the provision of legislative and other assistance to countries that were 
looking to implement the System in domestic law, the sharing of experiences among Members 
regarding the implementation and use of the System, awareness raising among pr ocurement and 
IP officials about how to use the System in their day -to-day operations, as well as 
the establishment of a mechanism to effectively coordinate technical assistance provided by 
international organizations. As a first step to address the sugges tions made, the Secretariat 
provided an overview of the notification requirements that applied under the System 
at the Council's meeting in March.  
8.2.  At the Council's meetings in January, March, June and October, the Chair continued to  update 
delegations on t he status of acceptances of the Protocol.  
8.3.  At the meeting in January, as well as at the Council's regular meetings in June and October, 
the Chair encouraged Members that were yet to notify their acceptance to ensure that necessary 
measures were being taken at domestic level in order to proceed in a timely fashion. 
As announced at the Council's meeting in June, the Chair also wrote to the 48 Members that were 
yet to accept the Protocol Amending the TRIPS Agreement in order to encourage them to complete 
domest ic procedures by the end of 2017.  
8.4.  At its meeting in October, the Council took up the annual review of the functioning 
of the System, pursuant to paragraph 7 of the amended TRIPS Agreement and paragraph  8 of 
the Decision of 30 August 2003 on the Implementat ion of Paragraph 6 of the Doha Declaration on 
the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health respectively. The Council agreed to forward to the General 
Council a proposal for a decision to extend the period for acceptance by Members of the Protocol 
Amending the TRI PS Agreement until 31  December 2019 (IP/C/78). The Council's report to 
the General Council on the operation of the System has been circulated in document IP/C/79.  
9  IMPLEMENTATION OF AR TICLE 66.2  
9.1.  At its meeting in March, the Council followed up its fourteent h annual review of developed 
country Members' reports on their implementation of Article 66.2.  
9.2.  [At its meeting in October, the Council took up its fifteenth annual review of developed 
country Members' reports on their implementation of Article 66.2. For th is review, the Council 
reviewed the updates to 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 following developed country 
Members: Japan, Australia, the United States , Canada, New Zealand, Norway and Switzerland, as 
well as from the European Union and individual member  States, namely Austria, the Czech 
Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Sweden and the United Kingdom. 
This documentation is being circ ulated in document IP/C/W/631 and addenda.  
10  TECHNICAL COOPERATIO N AND CAPACITY -BUILDING  
10.1.   At its meeting in March, the Council followed up its annual review of technical cooperation 
held at its meeting in November 2016.  
10.2.   At its meeting in June, the Council inv ited 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 recei ved updated 
information from the following developed country Members: Japan, Australia, the United States, 
Canada, New Zealand, Switzerland and Norway, as well as the European Union and individual 
member States and agencies, namely Croatia, the Czech Repub lic, Denmark, Estonia, France, 
Germany, the Netherlands, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the Community 
Plant Variety Office (being circulated in IP/C/W/632 and addenda). Updated information was also 
received from the Food and Agriculture Or ganization (FAO), the World Intellectual Property 
Organization (WIPO), the World Health Organization (WHO), the  Cooperation Council of the Arab IP/C/80  
 
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  States of the Gulf  (GCC), the African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO), 
the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the World Customs 
Organization (WCO), the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), and 
the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV)  (being circulated in 
IP/C/W /633 and addenda), as well as from the WTO Secretariat (IP/C/W/634).  
11  UNITED NATIONS SECRE TARY -GENERAL'S HIGH LEVEL  PANEL REPORT ON ACCE SS 
TO MEDICINES  
11.1.   Following the initial request by Brazil, China, India and South Africa to add this item 
to the agenda of the Council's meeting in November 2016, and as agreed at that meeting, 
the Council continued its discussion of the United Nations Secretary -General's High Level Panel 
Report on Access to Medicines at its meeting in March.  
12  WORK PROGRAMME ON EL ECTRONIC COMME RCE 
12.1.   At the request of Brazil, the Council had on its agenda an item on the "Work Programme on 
Electronic Commerce" at its meeting in March. It had before it a communication on "Electronic 
Commerce and Copyright" submitted by Brazil and co -sponsored by Arge ntina (JOB/IP/19).  
12.2.   The Council also had before it three other communications on "Electronic Signatures", 
sponsored by Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay (JOB/IP/20); on "Trade Policy, the WTO and 
the Digital Economy", circulated at the request of Canada; Chile ; Colombia; Côte d'Ivoire; 
the European Union; the Republic of Korea; Mexico; Montenegro; Paraguay; Singapore 
and Turkey, and later also co -sponsored by Moldova (JOB/IP/21); and on "Electronic Commerce 
and Development", co -sponsored by Brunei Darussalam; C olombia; Costa Rica; Hong Kong, China; 
Israel; Malaysia; Mexico; Nigeria; Pakistan; Panama; Qatar; Seychelles; Singapore and Turkey 
(JOB/IP/22).  
13  INTELLECTUAL PROPERT Y AND INNOVATION: IN CLUSIVE INNOVATION A ND MSME 
COLLABORATION  
13.1.   At the request of Australia, the European Union, Japan, Switzerland, Chinese Taipei and 
the United States, the Council had on the agenda of its meeting in March an item on "Intellectual 
Property and Innovation: Inclusive Innovation and MSME Collaboration". It had before it two 
communi cations by the co -sponsors on "Intellectual Property and Innovation 2017: Inclusive 
Innovation and MSMEs" (IP/C/W/622) and on "Intellectual Property and Innovation: Inclusive 
Innovation and MSME Collaboration" (IP/C/W/625).  
14  INTELLECTUAL PROPERT Y AND INNOVA TION: INCLUSIVE INNO VATION AND MSME 
GROWTH  
14.1.   At the request of Australia, Canada, the European Union, Japan, Singapore, Switzerland, 
Chinese Taipei and the United States, the Council had on the agenda of its meeting in June an item 
on "Intellectual Property and Innovation: Inclusive Innovation and MSME Growth". It had before it 
a communication by the co -sponsors on "Intellectual Property and Innovation: Inclusive Innovation 
and MSME Growth" (IP/C/W/629).  
15  INTELLECTUAL PROPERT Y AND INNOVATION: IN CLUSIVE INNOVAT ION AND MSME 
TRADE  
15.1.   At the request of Australia, Canada, the European Union, Japan, Switzerland, Chinese Taipei 
and the United States, the Council had on the agenda of its meeting in October an item on 
"Intellectual Property and Innovation: Inclusive Innova tion and MSME Trade". It had before it 
a communication from Australia, the European Union, Japan, Switzerland, Chinese Taipei and 
the United States on "Intellectual Property and Innovation: Inclusive Innovation and MSME Trade" 
(IP/C/W/635).  IP/C/80  
 
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  16  INTELLECTUAL PR OPERTY AND THE PUBLI C INTEREST: COMPULSO RY LICENSING  
16.1.   At the request of Brazil, China, Fiji, India and South Africa, the Council had on the agenda of 
its meeting in June an item on "Intellectual Property and the Public Interest: Compulsory 
Licensing". It ha d before it a communication by the co -sponsors on "Intellectual Property and 
the Public Interest" (IP/C/W/630). At the request of Brazil, China, India and South Africa, 
the Council had on the agenda of its meeting in October an item on "Intellectual Proper ty and 
the Public Interest: Follow -Up Discussion on Compulsory Licensing".  
17  INFORMATION ON RELEV ANT DEVELOPMENTS ELS EWHERE IN THE WTO  
17.1.   At the Council's meetings in March, June and October, the WTO Secretariat provided 
an overview of the wide range of trade -related measures and experiences in the field of intellectual 
property rights that had been covered in WTO Trade Policy Reviews. The Council was also informed 
about new acceptances of the Protocol Amending the TRIPS Agreement and new disputes initiat ed 
under the Dispute Settlement Understanding.  
 
18  OBSERVER STATUS FOR INTERNATIONAL INTERG OVERNMENTAL ORGANIZA TIONS  
18.1.   At each regular meeting, the Council continued its consideration of the pending requests 
for observer status from international intergovernmen tal organizations. At its meeting in October, 
the Council agreed to grant regular observer status to the African Regional Intellectual Property 
Organization (ARIPO) and the African Intellectual Property Organization (OAPI).  
19  OTHER BUSINESS  
19.1.   At the Council's meeting in June, Singapore, on behalf of ASEAN, introduced 
a communication on "ASEAN reflections on the Lunch Panel on 'Can E -Commerce Trade Rules Help 
MSMEs from Developing Countries' Held During the UNCTAD E -Commerce Week in 27 April 2017" 
(JOB/IP/23).  
19.2.   At the same meeting, the Chair also informed Members of her intention to submit, in her 
capacity as TRIPS Council Chair and on her own responsibility, a factual record of the discussions 
on e-commerce that had taken place in the Council for consideration by  the General Council at its 
stocktaking session in  July. The Chair's record was subsequently circulated in document IP/C/77.  
 
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