RESTRICTED  
  
IP/C/M/74  
 
24 October 2013  
(13-5874)  Page: 1/13  
Council for Trade-Related Aspects of  
Intellectual Property Rights   
 
MINUTES OF MEETING 
HELD IN THE CENTRE WILLIAM RAPPARD ON 10-11 OCTOBER 2013 
Chairperson: Ambassador Alfredo Suescum (Panama) 
 
 
The present document contains the record of the Council for TRIPS meeting held on 
10-11 October 2013. The statements made during the meeting will be circulated in an addendum to the present document. 
 
  
_______________ 
  
 
Subjects discussed 
1   NOTIFICATIONS UNDER PROV ISIONS OF THE AGREEMENT ........................................ 3
 
2   REVIEWS OF NATIONAL IM PLEMENTING LEGISLATION .............................................. 4  
2.1   Review of the national implem enting legislation of Montenegro ........................................ 4  
2.2   Review of the national implementing  legislation of the Ru ssian Federa tion ......................... 4  
2.3   Follow-up to revi ews already und ertaken ...................................................................... 5  
2.4   Arrangements for the review of the nati onal implementing legislation of Tajikistan .............. 5  
3   REVIEW OF THE PROVISIONS OF ARTICLE 27.3(B) ..................................................... 5  
4   RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE TRIPS AGREEMENT AND THE CONVENTION ON 
BIOLOGICAL DI VERSITY .................................................................................................. 5  
5   PROTECTION OF TRADITIONA L KNOWLEDGE AND FOLKLORE ..................................... 5  
6   REVIEW UNDER PARAGRAPH 8 OF THE DECISION ON THE IMPLEMENTATION 
OF PARAGRAPH 6 OF THE DOHA DECLARATION ON THE TRIPS AGREEMENT AND 
PUBLIC HE ALTH ............................................................................................................... 6  
7   NON-VIOLATION AND SITUATION COMPLAINTS ......................................................... 7  
8   REVIEW OF THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE TRIPS AGREEMENT UNDER 
ARTICLE 71.1 .................................................................................................................. . 8 
9   REVIEW OF THE APPLICATION OF THE PROVISIONS OF THE SECTION ON 
GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATION S UNDER ARTI CLE 24.2 ...................................................... 8  
10   ELEVENTH ANNUAL REVIEW UNDER PARAGRAPH 2 OF THE DECISION ON 
THE IMPLEMENTATION OF ARTICLE 66.2 OF THE TRIPS AGREEMENT .............................. 9  
11   TECHNICAL COOPERATION AND CAPACITY-BUILDING ............................................ 10  IP/C/M/74 
 
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  12   CONTRIBUTION OF INTELLECTUA L PROPERTY TO FACILITATE THE 
TRANSFER OF ENVIRONMENTALLY RATIONAL TECHNOLOGY ......................................... 11  
13   INTELLECTUAL PR OPERTY AND SPORTS .................................................................. 11  
14   INFORMATION ON RELEVANT DEVE LOPMENTS ELSEWHERE IN THE WTO ............... 11  
15   OBSERVER STATUS FOR INTERNATIONAL INTERGOVERNMENTAL 
ORGANIZATI ONS ........................................................................................................... 11  
16   ANNUAL REPORT ..................................................................................................... 12  
17   OTHER BU SINESS .................................................................................................... 12  
17.1   Invitations to  ad hoc ob servers ................................................................................. 12 
17.2   Dates for the Council's meetings in 2014 .................................................................... 12 
17.3   Announcement of 18 September by the Government of Ireland regarding the 
legislative programme for the autumn session 2013 which includes generic packaging of 
tobacco products under Section C ...................................................................................... 12 
 
 
  IP/C/M/74 
 
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 1  NOTIFICATIONS UNDER PROVISIONS OF THE AGREEMENT 
1.1.  The Chairman said that, since its meeting in June 2013, the Council had received a number 
of updates to earlier notifications of laws and re gulations notified under Article 63.2. of the TRIPS 
Agreement: 
• Viet Nam had notified a number of "Other Laws" relating to copyright and related rights, 
plant varieties, industrial proper ty, test data, and enforcement; 
 
• Montenegro had notified its Decree promulgati ng the Law on Amendments to the Law on 
Legal Protection of Industrial Design; 
 
• the European Union had notified Regulation (EU) No 608/2013 of the European Parliament 
and of the Council of 12 June 2013 concerning Customs Enforcement of Intellectual 
Property Rights and Repealing Council Regulation (EC) No 1383/2003; 
 
• Botswana had notified its Copyright and Neighbouring Rights (Amendment) Act, 2005; its 
Copyright and Neighbouring Rights Regulation s, 2007; its Industrial Property Act, 2010 
and its Industrial Property Regulations, 2012;  
• Malaysia had notified its Industrial Designs (Amendment) Act 2013; its Industrial Designs 
(Amendment) Regulations 2013 and its Geographical Indications (Amendment) 
Regulations 2013;  
• Croatia had notified a number of "Other Laws" relating to patents and to copyright collective 
management;  
• Moldova had notified a number of laws relating to the protection of topographies of 
integrated circuits, industrial designs, trademarks, inventions, geographical indications, appellations of origin and traditional specialities guaranteed, and copyright and related rights, as well as a number of other secondary acts relating to these laws; and 
 
• Switzerland had notified consolidated versions of its IP laws containing amendments made 
between October 2008 and May 2013. 
 
1.2.  These notifications of laws and regulations we re available in the IP/N/1- series of documents, 
and the actual texts of laws in sub-series of documents in electronic form on the Documents Online 
database. In addition, Moldova had provided updated responses to the Checklist of Issues on 
Enforcement circulated in document IP/N/6/MDA/2. 
1.3.  As regards notifications of contact points  under Article 69 for the exchange of information 
and cooperation on trade in infringing goods, since its meeting in June 2013, updates to contact 
points notified earlier had been received from Lesotho and Malaysia. The information on the 
Members' transparency toolkit page had been updated accordingly. 
1.4.  The Chairman urged those Members whose initial notifications of laws and regulations 
remained incomplete to submit the outstanding material without delay. Equally, he urged other 
Members to fulfil their obligation under the TRIPS Agreement to notify any subsequent amendments of their laws and regulations without de lay after their entry into force. He especially 
encouraged Members to notify changes made to their laws and/or regulations to implement the 
Decision on TRIPS and public health. 
1.5.  The representative of the Secretariat upda ted the Council on its work to improve the user-
friendliness and cost-effectiveness of the notificati on system. The statement will be reproduced in 
an addendum to the present record.  
1.6.  The Council took note of the statement made. 
 IP/C/M/74 
 
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  2  REVIEWS OF NATIONAL IMPLEMENTING LEGISLATION 
2.1  Review of the national implem enting legislation of Montenegro 
2.1.  The Chairman recalled that the Council ha d agreed, at its meeting in March 2013, to review 
the national implementing legislation of Mont enegro at the present meeting. Montenegro's 
notification of its TRIPS laws and regulations had been circulated in document IP/N/1/MNE/1, and 
the texts of the notified laws in the relevant law series of documents. Its responses to the Checklist of Issues of Enforcement had b een circulated in document IP/N/6/MNE/1. 
2.2.  In accordance with the procedures for th e review of legislation, the representative of 
Montenegro provided a brief introduction of Monten egro's legislation. The record of that statement 
as well as the questions put to Montenegro and the responses given will be circulated in document 
IP/Q/MNE/1. 
2.3.  The representative of the European Union thanked the delegation of Montenegro for its 
comprehensive presentation and for the impressive efforts  in adapting Montenegro's legislation to 
TRIPS requirements and beyond.  
 
2.4.  The representative of the United States  joined the EU in welcoming and thanking the 
delegation of Montenegro. He said that his delegation had just submitted questions to 
Montenegro.1 
2.5.  The representative of China welcomed the de legation of Montenegro to the Council's meeting 
and thanked it for the detailed introduction of Montenegro's IP legislation. 
2.6.  The representative of Montenegro thanked for all of the comments and said that her 
delegation was fully committed to responding to the questions in the coming weeks and to 
continuing working closely with other Members. 
2.7.  The Chairman said that, under the standard  procedures, answers to the questions that had 
just been received should be submitte d within eight weeks after the meeting. 
2.8.  The Council took note of the statements made  and agreed to revert to the matter at its next 
meeting. 
2.2  Review of the national implementing  legislation of the Russian Federation 
2.9.  The Chairman recalled that the Council had agreed, at its meeting in November 2012, to 
review the national implementing legislation of th e Russian Federation at the present meeting. The 
Russian Federation's notification of its TRIPS laws and regulations had been circulated in document 
IP/N/1/RUS/1, and the texts of the notified laws in the relevant law series of documents. Its 
responses to the Checklist of Issues on Enforcement had been circulated in document IP/N/6/RUS/1. The Russian Federation had also made two notifications relating to Article 1.3, 
which had been circulated in document IP/N/2/RUS/1. 
2.10.  The Russian Federation had received ques tions from Switzerland, the European Union and 
the United States, which had been circulated in documents IP/C/W/588 and IP/C/W/589 
respectively. Its responses to these questions had been circulated in documents IP/C/W/596, 
IP/C/W/595 and IP/C/W/592 respectively. 
2.11.  In accordance with the procedures for the review of legislation, the representative of the 
Russian Federation provided a brief introduction of  the Russian Federation's legislation. The record 
of that statement as well as the questions put to the Russian Federation and the responses given 
will be circulated in document IP/Q/RUS/1. 
2.12.  The representative of the United States thanked the delegation of the Russian Federation for 
its detailed answers, which his delegation was in the process of considering. He requested that the 
                                               
1 Subsequently circulated in IP/C/W/598. IP/C/M/74 
 
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  review be continued at the next meeting, so as to allow a further evaluation of those answers and 
the possibility to pose any follow-up questions. 
2.13.  The representative of Switzerland joined the US in thanking the delegation of the Russian 
Federation, and said that his delegation had just one point that it would seek to clarify in bilateral 
contacts. 
2.14.  The representative of the Russian Federation thanked other Members for their comments 
and the Secretariat for its help in the process, and said that it was ready to provide more 
clarifications in written form if necessary. 
2.15.  The Council took note of the statements made and agreed to revert to the matter at the 
next meeting.  2.3  Follow-up to reviews already undertaken 
2.16.  The Chairman said that, as regards the re views of national implementing legislation that 
had been initiated at the Council's meetings since April 2001, the reviews of two Members 
remained on the Council's agenda, namely those of Fiji; and Saint Kitts and Nevis. He urged the 
delegations concerned to provide the outstanding material as soon as possible, so as to allow the 
Council to complete the follow-up to these reviews, and requested the Secretariat to once again contact the Members in question to relate to them what took place at the present meeting. 
2.17.  The Council took note of the information provided. 
2.4  Arrangements for the review of the nati onal implementing legislation of Tajikistan 
2.18.  The Chairman recalled that the Council, at its meeting in March 2013, had requested the 
Secretariat to contact Tajikistan concerning its notification under the TRIPS Agreement. 
2.19.  The representative of Tajikistan said th at, as a recently acceded Member and during its 
process of accession, Tajikistan had made numerous amendments to its IP legislation, which was 
being translated and would be notified in due course. 
2.20.  In light of the information provided by th e delegation of Tajikistan , the Chairman suggested 
that the Council reschedule the review of Tajikistan's TRIPS implementing legislation for the 
Council's meeting in June 2014, and that the Council revert to the arrangements for that review at 
its next meeting in February. 
2.21.  The Council took note of the statement made and so agreed.  
3  REVIEW OF THE PROVISIONS OF ARTICLE 27.3(B) 4  RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE TRIPS AGREEMENT AND THE CONVENTION ON 
BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY 
5  PROTECTION OF TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE AND FOLKLORE 5.1.  The Chairman suggested that the Council  continue to discuss the three agenda items 
together on the basis of contributions by Members.  As requested by the Council at its meeting in 
June 2013, he had continued his predecessor's consultations on the suggestions that the CBD 
Secretariat be invited to brief the Council on the Nagoya Protocol that had been adopted at the 
tenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to  the CBD held in Nagoya, Japan in October 2010. 
Furthermore, at that meeting, the Council had also requested him to consult on the proposal 
Ecuador had made at the Council's meeting in November 2012 that the Secretariat be requested to update the three factual notes that summarized the points delegations had made in the Council's 
past discussions on the review of the provisions of Article 27.3(b); on the relationship between 
TRIPS and CBD; and protection of traditional knowledge and folklore. He said that, unfortunately, he was not in a position to report any new developments in delegations' positions on these two 
matters. IP/C/M/74 
 
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  5.2.  The representatives of Indonesia, Egypt, China, the Plurinational State of Bolivia, Brazil 
Bangladesh, India, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, Venezu ela, Switzerland, the European Union, Korea, 
the United States, Japan, Canada, Australia and Sri Lanka took the floor. The statements will be 
reproduced in an addendum to the present record. 
5.3.  In light of the discussion , the Chairman suggested that the Council request the Chair to 
continue consulting on the suggestions that the CBD Secretariat be invited to brief the Council on 
the outcome of the Nagoya meeting,  and that the Secretariat be requested to update three factual 
notes that summarize the points delegations had made in the Council's past discussions on these 
three agenda items. In addition, he said that he would convey to the Director-General the suggestions that he reopen consultations on TRIPS implementation issues. 
5.4.  The Council took note of the statements made and so agreed. 
 
6  REVIEW UNDER PARAGRAPH 8 OF THE DECISION ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF PARAGRAPH 6 OF THE DOHA DECLARATION ON THE TRIPS AGREEMENT AND PUBLIC 
HEALTH 
6.1.  The Chairman suggested that, in light of th e consultations he had held on the preparations 
for the tenth annual review under paragraph 8 of th e Decision on the Implementation of Paragraph 
6 of the Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health, the Council follow the 
standard format in the present review. Accordingl y, after introducing the item and any relevant 
recent developments, the floor would be opened to delegations for comments. This was how the Council had conducted most of the reviews, including the previous review, although in 2010 and 
2011, the Council had had in place more elaborated procedures that had been agreed in advance, 
including a set of topics and qu estions to guide the discussion. 
6.2.  He said that the records of earlier re views, including the exchange of questions and 
responses, continued to provide a unique and valu able resource for understanding this important 
measure and could also inform discussions at th e present review. He had therefore encouraged 
delegations to consult this material, recorded in the minutes of previous reviews, and consider 
whether there was any issues they would wish to follow up.  
6.3.  As regards the purpose of the review, he recalled that paragraph 8 of the waiver Decision 
provided that the Council for TRIPS would annually review the functioning of the System set out in the Decision with a view to ensuring its effective operation and annually report on its operation to 
the General Council. Such a review would be deemed to fulfil the review requirements of 
Article IX:4 of the WTO Agreement. 
6.4.  The Secretariat had circulated a draft cover note for the Council's report modelled on 
previous years' reports (JOB/IP/9). It contained factual information on the implementation and use 
of the System established under the Decision and on the status of acceptances of the Protocol 
Amending the TRIPS Agreement. In accordance wi th the way that the Council had prepared its 
report in previous years, the part of the minutes  of the meeting that reflected the discussions held 
under the agenda item could be attached to the cover note. 
6.5.  Paragraph 8 of the cover note contained a lis t of Members that had notified their acceptance 
of the Protocol. The Chairman said that Chile and Montenegro, on 26 July and 9 September 2013 
respectively, had deposited their instruments of acceptance since the Council's last meeting in 
June. In addition, since the circulation of the draft report, Trinidad and Tobago had also accepted the Protocol (WT/Let/894). Paragraph 8 would need to be updated accordingly. 
6.6.  The Chairman clarified a frequently asked question on how the acceptance of the Protocol 
related to the implementation of the Paragraph 6 System in a Member’s domestic legal framework. 
He said that these were two entirely separate acts, in other words, the Protocol could be accepted 
independently from adopting domestic implementing legislation. By accepting the Protocol, a 
Member in essence expressed its consent that other WTO Members were entitled to use the additional flexibility that the System provided. Should a WTO Member wish to take advantage itself of those additional flexibilities, the adoption of appropriate domestic legislative measures could be 
required. He emphasized that, since these two pr ocesses were entirely separate, a Member could IP/C/M/74 
 
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  choose to deposit an instrument of acceptance of the Protocol without the need to wait for any 
domestic implementation. In fact, a number of instruments of acceptance that the WTO had received had been deposited before the Member in question had adopted any domestic implementing legislation. 
6.7.  The representatives of the United States, India, Canada, China, Australia, Japan, the 
European Union, Cuba, Switzerland,  Chile and El Salvador, as well as of the WTO Secretariat and 
the WIPO Secretariat took the floor under this agenda item. The statements will be reproduced in 
an addendum to the present record. 
6.8.  The Council took note of the statements made. 
6.9.  Turning to the report to the General Council on the annual review of the Paragraph 6 System, 
the Chairman said that the Secretariat had circulated a draft cover note for the Council's report 
modelled on previous years' reports (JOB/IP/9). It contained factual information on the implementation and use of the System establis hed under the Decision and on the status of 
acceptances of the Protocol Amending the TRIPS Ag reement. In accordance with the way that the 
Council had prepared its reports in the previous years, the part of the minutes of the meeting that 
reflected the discussions held under the agenda item could be attached to the cover note. 
6.10.  As regards paragraph 8 of the cover note to the report, he recalled that Trinidad and 
Tobago had also recently accepted the Protocol. This paragraph would be updated accordingly. 
6.11.  The Protocol had originally been open for acceptance by Members until 1 December 2007. 
Upon proposals by the TRIPS Council, the General Council had three times extended that period 
for further two-year periods. The period for a cceptance was currently due to expire on 31 
December 2013. Given the proximity of this date, the Chairman suggested that the Council 
consider again submitting a proposal to the General Council for a decision to extend the period for the acceptance of the Protocol. For that purpose, a draft decision that could be submitted to the 
General Council for adoption was included in Annex 2 to the draft report. It did not yet contain a 
new deadline for the extended period for acceptances.  In the light of the consultations he had held 
on this matter, he suggested that the Council prop ose to extend the period by a further two years 
until 31 December 2015.  
6.12.  The Chairman proposed that the Council agree on forwarding to the General Council the 
proposal for a decision to extend the period of acceptance by Members of the Protocol Amending 
the TRIPS Agreement until 31 December 2015. He suggested that the last paragraph of the draft 
decision by the General Council contained in Annex 2 to the draft report be complemented by 
inserting this date. He also proposed that the Council agree on the cover note to the report contained in JOB/IP/9, with the update to paragraph 8 concerning Trinidad and Tobago, and also 
that the Council minutes containing the record of the discussion be attached to it. 
6.13.  The Council so agreed. 
7  NON-VIOLATION AND SITUATION COMPLAINTS 
7.1.  The Chairman recalled that the Eighth Session  of the Ministerial Conference had directed the 
TRIPS Council to continue its examination of the scope and modalities for complaints of the types 
provided for under subparagraphs 1(b) and 1(c) of Article XXIII of GATT 1994 and make 
recommendations to its next Session. It had been agreed that, in the meantime, Members will not 
initiate such complaints under the TRIPS Agreement. The ninth Ministerial Conference would be 
held in Bali on 3-6 December 2013. 
7.2.  He recalled that, at the Council's meeting in June 2013, he had indicated that he intended to 
intensify his consultations with a view to enabling the Council to agree on its recommendations to 
the Ministerial Conference at the present meet ing. Since then, he had held three rounds of 
informal consultations to which he had invited those delegations that had submitted to the Council 
or co-sponsored at some point a document on the subject, any delegation that had made a 
statement on the subject during the last two years, and regional group coordinators. He had had discussions with numerous delegations. Moreover, on 7 June and the morning of 10 October, he 
had held informal open-ended  meetings of the Council. IP/C/M/74 
 
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  7.3.  At these open-ended informal meetings, delegations had been in agreement on a Council 
recommendation to the Ministerial Conference that it extend the moratorium on TRIPS non-violation and situation complaints until the next Ministerial Conference using language that would follow as closely as possible the Ministerial Decision of 2011 on "TRIPS Non-Violation and Situation 
Complaints" (WT/L/842). 
7.4.  At the same time, Members had indicated readiness to engage early next year in intensified 
work on the examination of the scope and modalities for such complaints with the intent of finding 
a way out of the current cycle of extending the non-violation moratorium from one Ministerial 
Conference to the next. Furthermore, a number of delegations had said that the briefing that the Secretariat had organized in October 2012 to provide factual background information on such complaints had been useful and hoped that, since there had been turnover among delegations, the 
Secretariat would hold another such a briefing to enable them to engage in substantive discussions 
on the matter. He intended to consult with delegations early next year on how to organize the Council's intensified work on this matter. 
7.5.  He said that, although all delegations had expressed their support for the text, some of them 
still needed to confirm their instructions with th eir capitals. He suggested that the Council agree ad 
referendum  on its recommendation, namely that Members would have until close-of-business on 
Monday 21 October to consider the text and, if there were no objections by then, the 
recommendation would be considered as agreed by the Council. On that basis, he proposed that 
the Council agree ad referendum  to recommend that the Ninth Session of the Ministerial 
Conference decide as follows: 
"We take note of the work done by the Council for Trade-Related Aspects of 
Intellectual Property Rights pursuant to our Decision of 17 December 2011 on "TRIPS Non-Violation and Situation Complaints" (WT/L/842), and direct it to continue its 
examination of the scope and modalities for complaints of the types provided for 
under subparagraphs 1(b) and 1(c) of Article XXIII of GATT 1994 and make recommendations to our next Session, which we have decided to hold in 2015. It is 
agreed that, in the meantime, Members will  not initiate such complaints under the 
TRIPS Agreement." 
 7.6.  The Council so agreed.
2 
8  REVIEW OF THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE TRIPS AGREEMENT UNDER ARTICLE 71.1 
8.1.  No statements were made by Members under this agenda item.   8.2.  The Council agreed to revert to the matter at its next meeting.  
9  REVIEW OF THE APPLICATION OF THE PROVISIONS OF THE SECTION ON 
GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATIONS UNDER ARTICLE 24.2 
9.1.  The Chairman recalled that Article 24.2 prov ided that the Council shall keep under review the 
application of the provisions of the Section on geographical indications of the Agreement. The 
principal tool used to coordinate the review process had been a Checklist of Questions contained in document IP/C/13 and Add.1, which a number of Members had submitted, but many had so far 
not completed. In addition, at its meeting in March 2010, the Council had agreed to encourage 
Members to share information on and notify to the Council bilateral agreements related to the 
protection of geographical indications, which they had entered into. 
9.2.  As the question of GI protection remained  of continuing interest and remained a point of 
discussion, he invited those delegations that had not yet provided responses to the Checklist of 
Questions to consider doing so. Currently only 49 Members out of 159 had undertaken this valuable exercise, and a number of past responses were likely to be out of date, since they dated 
back over a decade. Hence, those Members that  had already provided responses could provide 
updates to the extent there had been any signific ant changes to the way they provided protection 
                                               
2 Since no objections were received by the deadline , the recommendation was considered as agreed by 
the Council. IP/C/M/74 
 
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  to geographical indications. In line with the Council's recommendation made in March 2010, he  
encouraged any Member that was party to any bilateral agreements related to the protection of GIs and had not yet shared such information with the Council to do so. So far, only three Members had provided such information in writing; in addition, four other Members had orally provided 
information at past Council meetings. 
9.3.  The representatives of Switzerland and Mexi co took the floor under this agenda item. The 
statements will be reproduced in an addendum to the present record. 
9.4.  The Council took note of the statements made  and agreed to revert to the matter at its next 
meeting. 
10  ELEVENTH ANNUAL REVIEW UNDER PARAGRAPH 2 OF THE DECISION ON THE 
IMPLEMENTATION OF ARTICLE 66.2 OF THE TRIPS AGREEMENT 
10.1.  The Chairman recalled that, at its meeting in February 2003, the Council had adopted a 
decision on the "Implementation of Article 66. 2 of the TRIPS Agreement". Paragraph 1 of the 
Decision provided that developed country Members shall submit annually reports on actions taken 
or planned in pursuance of their commitments und er Article 66.2. To this end, they were to 
provide new detailed reports every third year and,  in the intervening years, provide updates to 
their most recent reports. These reports were to be submitted prior to the last Council meeting 
scheduled for the year in question. The fourth set of detailed annual reports under the Decision 
had been presented to the Council's meeting in November 2012. At its meeting in June 2013, the Council had requested developed country Members to submit a first set of updates to these reports for the present meeting. The Secretariat had issued on 8 August 2013 an airgram 
(WTO/AIR/4166) to remind developed country Members of this request. 
10.2.  The Council had received updates to the fourth set of detailed annual reports from the 
following developed country Members: Japan; New Zealand; Canada; the European Union and 
individual member States, namely Belgium, Finland, France, Ireland, Slovakia, Sweden, and the 
United Kingdom; as well as Norway; Switzerland, the United States, and Australia (document IP/C/W/594 and addenda). 
10.3.  As regards the purpose and conduct of the review of this information, paragraph 2 of the 
Decision on the Implementation of Article 66.2 of the TRIPS Agreement explained that the annual 
review meetings shall provide Members with an op portunity to pose questions in relation to the 
information submitted and request additional information; discuss the effectiveness of the 
incentives provided in promoting and encouraging technology transfer to least developed country 
Members in order to enable them to create a sound and viable technological base; and consider any points relating to the operation of the reporting procedure established by the Decision. 
10.4.  Since some of the information had been received only recently and most of it was, so far, 
available only in its original language, he said that he intended to provide an opportunity, at the Council's next meeting, for Members to make fu rther comments on the information submitted for 
this meeting that they might not yet have been ab le to study, and also to comment any additional 
information that might yet be provided before that meeting. 
10.5.  For the sixth year in a row, the Secretariat had organized, at the request by LDC Members, 
a workshop on transfer of technology under Arti cle 66.2 back-to-back to with the Council's end-of-
year meeting. This time, this workshop had b een held on Wednesday afternoon, 9 October 2013. 
It had again brought together LDC and developed country experts to discuss this matter at a very practical level, building on the earlier workshops.  There had again been a constructive exchange of 
views which had been useful to both LDC and developed country delegations. 
10.6.  He recalled that, at the tenth review, Haiti on behalf of the LDC Group had requested that 
the Council adopt the proposed format for reports submitted by developed country Members under 
Article 66.2 contained in a communication submitted by Angola on behalf of the LDC Group prior to 
the ninth review (IP/C/W/561). Since then, he had discussed this issue with some interested delegations. He also recalled that the Secretariat had informed the Council a number of times on its work to develop an information management tool for this purpose. One thing that was being IP/C/M/74 
 
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  explored was how the substantive concerns could be reflected in any such new tools. This had also 
been considered at the workshop. 
10.7.  The representatives of Australia, the WTO Secretariat, Angola, India, the United States and 
the European Union took the floor under this agenda item. The statements will be reproduced in an 
addendum to the present record. 10.8.  The Chairman thanked the Secretariat fo r organizing once more the Workshop and the 
delegations concerned for their constructive contributions at the workshop. He urged those 
developed country Members that had not yet provided reports to do so, and said that it was his 
intention to provide an opportunity at the next meeting for Members of the Council to make further comments on the information submitted for the present meeting that they might not yet have been able to study. 
10.9.  The Council took note of the statements made. 
11  TECHNICAL COOPERATION AND CAPACITY-BUILDING 
11.1.  The Chairman recalled that the Council had agreed, at its meeting in June 2013, to hold its 
annual review of technical cooperation at today's meeting. He suggested that, in this context, the 
Council also discuss any other issues relating to this agenda item. In preparation for this annual review, developed country Members had been once more requested to update information on their 
technical and financial cooperation activities relevant to the implementation of the TRIPS 
Agreement in time for this meeting. Other Members who also made available technical cooperation had been encouraged to share information on these activities if they so wished. The Secretariat had issued on 8 August 2013 an airgram (WTO/AIR/4165) reminding Members of this request. In 
addition, intergovernmental organizations observers to the Council, as well as the WTO 
Secretariat, had been invited to provide information. 
11.2.  The Council had received information fr om the following developed country Members: 
Japan; New Zealand; Canada; the European Union and individual member States, namely Austria, 
Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic , Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary 
Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Sloven ia, Spain and the United Kingdom; as well as 
Norway; Switzerland; the United States, and Australia (document IP/C/W/593 and addenda). 
Updated information had been received from the following intergovernmental organizations: the WCO, OECD, WHO, UNCTAD, FAO; and WIPO (document IP/C/W/591 and addenda).  
11.3.  Updated information on the WTO Secretariat's own technical cooperation activities in the 
TRIPS area could be found in document IP/C/W/590 in French and Spanish, and in 
document IP/C/W/590/Rev.1 in English. 
11.4.  In addition, the Council had received a communication from Togo identifying its priority 
needs for technical and financial cooperation (doc ument IP/C/W/597). Togo intended to introduce 
this document at the Council's first meeting in 2014. 
11.5.  The representatives of Australia, the WT O Secretariat and the WHO Secretariat took the 
floor under this agenda item. The statements will be reproduced in an addendum to the present 
record. The Chairman urged those Members that had not yet provided updated information on 
their technical cooperation activities to do so. He noted that some of the information had been received only very recently, and that most of it was, so far, only available in its original language. 
He said that it was his intention to provide Members of the Council with an opportunity at the next 
meeting to make further comments on the information submitted for this meeting that they might not yet have been able to study. 
11.6.  The Council took note of the statements made and agreed to revert to the matter at its next 
meeting. IP/C/M/74 
 
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  12  CONTRIBUTION OF INTELLECTUAL PROP ERTY TO FACILITATE THE TRANSFER OF 
ENVIRONMENTALLY RATIONAL TECHNOLOGY 
12.1.  The Chairman recalled that, at the Council's meeting in March 2013, Ecuador had briefly 
presented, under "Other Business", its submission en titled "Contribution of Intellectual Property for 
Facilitating the Transfer of Environmentally Rational Technology" (document IP/C/W/585). That 
document had been discussed at the Council's meeting in June 2013 under an item on "Intellectual Property, Climate Change and Development" that had been put on the agenda at the request of 
Ecuador. 
12.2.  The representatives of Ecuador, the Plurinat ional State of Bolivia, Indonesia, Cuba, China, 
United States, European Union, India, Japan, Canada, New Zealand, Chile, Australia, Switzerland, 
Brazil and Venezuela took the floor. The statements will be reproduced in an addendum to the 
present record. 
12.3.  The Council took note of the statements made. 
13  INTELLECTUAL PROP ERTY AND SPORTS 
13.1.  The Chairman said that this item had been  put on the agenda at the written request by the 
delegations of the European Union, Jamaica, Mexico, and the United States. After the circulation of 
the proposed agenda, also Trinidad and Tobago ha d indicated that it wished to co-sponsor the 
item. 
13.2.  The representatives of the European Unio n, Mexico, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, the 
United States, Switzerland, Australia, Canada, Japa n, Brazil, Venezuela, Korea, China, India, the 
Plurinational State of Bolivia, Cuba, Ecuador, Para guay, the European Union and Nepal on behalf of 
the LDC Group took the floor. The statements will be reproduced in an addendum to the present 
record. 
13.3.  The Council took note of the statements made. 
14  INFORMATION ON RELEVANT DEVELOPMENTS ELSEWHERE IN THE WTO 14.1.  The Chairman informed that, by mean s of a communication dated 20 September 2013, 
Indonesia had requested consultations with Australia regarding the issue of "Australia – Certain 
Measures Concerning Trademarks, Geographical Indications and Other Plain Packaging 
Requirements Applicable to Tobacco Products an d Packaging" (document IP/D/34). The following 
Members had requested to join these consulta tions: Guatemala, Nicaragua, New Zealand, 
Uruguay, the European Union, Norway, Canada, the Dominican Republic, Brazil, and Honduras 
(documents WT/DS467/2 to 11, respectively). 
14.2.  The Council took note of the information provided.  
15  OBSERVER STATUS FOR INTERNATIONAL INTERGOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS 
15.1.  The Chairman informed that there remained 12 pending requests for observer status in the 
TRIPS Council by other intergovernmental organizations. The updated list was contained in 
document IP/C/W/52/Rev.13. In response to a request by the Council in June 2011, four of them 
had updated the information they had provided earlier, including on the nature of their work and 
the reasons for their interest in being accorded observer status. These IGOs were the Conférence 
des Ministres de l'Agriculture de l'Afrique de l' Ouest et du Centre (CMA/AOC), the International 
Organization of Vine and Wine (OIV), the South Centre, and the United Nations Environment 
Programme (UNEP). Furthermore, the CBD Secretariat had informed the Secretariat that no 
update was necessary since it had already renewed its request as recently as 24 November 2010 by means of a letter addressed to the WTO Director-General. This information was available on the 
Members' website. 
15.2.  As requested by the Council at its last meet ing, he had continued consulting on the requests 
for observer status from the five IGOs that had recently provided updated information, as well as IP/C/M/74 
 
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  on the requests from seven other organizations that had not yet updated their information. 
Unfortunately, he was not in a position to report any new thinking in respect to these requests. 
15.3.  The Council took note of the information provided and agreed to revert to the matter at its 
next meeting. 
16  ANNUAL REPORT 
16.1.  The Chairman said that the draft Annual Report of the Council had been circulated in 
document JOB/IP/10. It still needed to be updated so as to reflect the discussions at the present 
meeting. Also, the document reference in paragraph 10.1 needed to be corrected to read 
"IP/C/W/584". This draft would be faxed to Members, who would have one week to comment on the updated parts of the draft report once it  had been circulated by the Secretariat. 
16.2.  He said that this year the annual reports should be circulated no later than 24 October. 
Given this tight deadline and the fact that the Council had agreed ad referendum  on its 
recommendation on non-violation complaints, the updated draft would tentatively indicate inside brackets that no objections were received by the deadline and that, therefore, the 
recommendation was considered as agreed by the Co uncil. If this in fact would be the case, then 
the brackets would be remove d from the final version. 
16.3.  The Council so agreed.  
17  OTHER BUSINESS 17.1  Invitations to ad hoc observers 17.1.  The Chairman recalled that, at its meetings in June 2010 and November 2012, the Council 
had agreed to grant ad hoc observer status on a meeting-to-meeting basis to the African Regional 
Intellectual Property Organization, the African Intellectual Property Organization, the Cooperation 
Council of the Arab States of the Gulf, and the Eu ropean Free Trade Association. He suggested that 
the Council again invite ARIPO, OAPI, GCC and EFTA  to attend the Council's next formal meeting 
on an ad hoc basis. 
17.2.  The Council so agreed.  
17.2  Dates for the Council's meetings in 2014 
17.3.  The Chairman suggested that the Council agree on the following dates for its meetings 
in 2014: 
- Tuesday and Wednesday, 25 and 26 February; 
- Wednesday and Thursday, 11 and 12 June; and 
- Tuesday and Wednesday, 28 and 29 October.   
 17.4.  The Council so agreed.  
17.3  Announcement of 18 September by th e Government of Ireland regarding the 
legislative programme for the autumn session  2013 which includes generic packaging of 
tobacco products under Section C 
17.5.  The Chairman said that the delegation of the Dominican Republic wished to make a 
statement under "Other Business" concerning the announcement of 18 September by the 
Government of Ireland regarding the legislativ e programme for the autumn session 2013 which 
included generic packaging of tobacco products under Section C. 
17.6.  The representatives of the Dominican Repu blic, Cuba, Honduras, Nicaragua, the European 
Union, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Norway, Uruguay and China took the floor. The 
statements will be reproduced in an addendum to the present record. IP/C/M/74 
 
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  17.7.  The Chairman recalled that delegations should not enter into substantive debates under 
"Other Business" and avoid lengthy statements. He urged delegations to bear in mind the 
underlying rationale in this regard. 
17.8.  The Council took note of the statements made. 
__________