IP/C/81  
 
21 November  2018 
(18-7307) Page: 1/5 
 
    
 
ANNUAL REPORT (201 8) OF THE COUNCIL FOR  TRIPS  
1  GENERAL  
1.1.  Since the period covered by its 201 7 report1, the Council for TRIPS has held  three formal 
meetings, on 27 February , 5-6 June and 8-9 Novem ber 2018. The minutes of these meetings are 
to be found in documents IP/C/M/ 88 and IP/C/M/ 88/Add.1, IP/C/M/ 89 and IP/C/M/ 89/Add.1  
and IP/C/M/ 90 and IP/C/M/ 90/Add.1 .2 
1.2.  The meeting  in February was chaired by Ms Irene Young (Hong Kong, China), and the 
meetings in June and Novem ber by Ambassador Walter Werner (Germany) . 
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 African Regional Intellectual Property Orga nization (ARIPO), 
the African Intellectual Property Organization (OAPI) , 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 World Intellectual Property 
Organization (WIPO) enjoy regul ar observ er 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 Agreement and public health at that 
and future meetings. At its meeting in November 2012, the Council agreed to grant ad hoc  
observer status on a meeting -by-meeting basis to the Cooperation Council of th e Arab States of 
the Gulf (GCC) and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA). Pursuant to this, the GCC and 
EFTA were invited to attend each formal meeting on an ad hoc  basis. At its meeting in 
November  2018, the Council agreed to grant regular observer status to the GCC. Decisions on 
requests for observer status from 1 3 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 legislative measures  under various 
provisions of the TRIPS  Agreement. At the Council 's meetings, t he delegations of  Australia, 
Canada, Colombia, Chile, the European Union  (on behalf of Finland ), Japan, Mauritius, Mexico, 
Republic of Moldova, Norway, Ukraine and the United Sta tes of America provided further 
background to the notifications they had filed. To date, 13 4 Members have notified, pursuant to 
Article  63.2, all or part of their implementing legislation relating to all provisions of the Agreement. 
110 Members have provid ed 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 explanations of the significance of this new and amended legi slation . 
143 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 infringin g intellectual 
property rights.  
                                                
1 Document IP/C/ 80. 
2 Documents IP/C/M/ 90 and IP/C/M/ 90/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/81  
 
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  2.2.  At its meeting in November, the Counci l also had before it a communication from India on the 
"Enforcement of IPRs Regarding Goods in Transit – Questions to the European Union " 
(IP/C/W/636/Add.1) .  
2.3.  The C ouncil was  regularly  updated  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.  Since the Council ha d completed the reviews of implementing laws and  regulations  of the 
current developed and developing country Members , delegations were invited to consider how to 
make best use of this agenda item, including by reverting to any matter stemming from previous 
reviews and by proposing further reviews in the  future.  
4  REVIEW OF THE PROVIS IONS OF ARTICLE 27.3 (B); RELATIONSHIP BE TWEEN 
THE TRIPS AGREEMENT AND THE CONVENTION ON BI OLOGICAL DIVERSITY; AND 
PROTECTION OF TRADIT IONAL KNOWLEDGE AND FOLKLORE  
4.1.  Following the practice in its past meetings that delegates addre ss these three agenda items 
together, the Council continued to discuss them together on the basis of contributions by 
Members , including as regards the patentability of life forms and the introduction of a mandatory 
disclosure requirement in the TRIPS Agre ement . This discussion also covered  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 discussio ns on these three agenda items.  
5  NON-VIOLATION AND SI TUATION COMP LAINTS  
5.1.  As mandated by the Ministerial Decision taken at the eleven th Ministerial Conference in 
Buenos Aires  (WT/L/ 1033), the Council continued to consider the application of non -violation and 
situation complaints under the TRIPS Agreement  at each of its three formal  meetings , including by 
reference to  earlier communications (IP/C/W/599 , IP/C/W/385/R ev.1 and addenda).  
6  REVIEW OF IMPLEMENTA TION OF THE TRIPS AG REEMENT UNDER ARTICL E 71 
6.1.  At the Council 's meeting s in February,  June and November , the Chair recalled that the 
Council was required under Article  71 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 forw ard this mandated review.  
7  REVIEW OF THE APPLIC ATION OF THE PROVISI ONS OF THE SECTION O N 
GEOGRAPHICAL INDICAT IONS UNDER ARTICLE 2 4.2 
7.1.  At the Council 's meetings in February , June and Novem ber, 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 signific ant changes to the way they provided protection to geographical 
indications. In line with the Council '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 June, Mexico presented its 
updated responses to the Checklist of Questions (IP/C/W/117/Add.14/Rev.1). At the Council 's 
meeting in November, Ukraine presented its initial  responses to the Checklist of Questions 
(IP/C/W/117/Add.35).  
8  REVIEW OF THE SPECIAL COMPU LSORY LICENSING SYST EM 
8.1.  At the Council 's meetings in February , June and Novem ber, the Chair update d delegations on 
the status of acceptances of the Protocol.  IP/C/81  
 
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  8.2.  At the meetings in Febru ary, June and Novem ber, 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.  To prepare for the annual review at th e Council 's 
end-of-year meeting in November, t he Chair also wrote to the 38 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 2019. 
8.3.  At its meeting in Novem ber, 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 Implementation of Paragraph 6 of the Doha Declaration on 
the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health respectively . The Council 's report to the General Council 
on the operation of the System  will be circulated in document IP/C/82. 
9  IMPLEM ENTATION OF ARTICLE 66.2 
9.1.  At its meeting in February , the Council followed up its fifteenth annual review of developed 
country Members ' reports on their implementation of Article 66.2 TRIPS . 
9.2.  At the Council 's meeting in June, developed country Members were i nvited to submit the 
sixth set of new detailed reports on actions they had taken or planned in pursuance of their 
commitments under Article  66.2 TRIPS  for consideration at the Council 's meeting in November.  
9.3.  At its meeting in Novem ber, the Council took up i ts sixteenth annual review of developed 
country Members ' reports on their implementation of Article 66.2 TRIPS . For this review, the 
Council re viewed the sixth set of new detailed reports presented by  the following developed 
country Members: United States  of America , Switzerland, Australia, Japan, Canada, Norway, 
New Zealand, as well as the European Union and some of its Member States, namely Austria, the 
Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Sweden and the 
United  Kingdom . This documentation is being circulated in document IP/C/W/ 646 and addenda.  
10  TECHNICAL COOPERATIO N AND CAPACITY -BUILD ING 
10.1.   At its meeting in February , the Council followed up it s annual review of technical 
cooperation held at its meeting in October  2017. 
10.2.   At its me eting 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 November . Intergovernmental organizat ions 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 meetin g in Novem ber, the Council received 
updated information from the following developed country Members: United States  of America , 
Switzerland, Australia, Japan, Canada, New Zealand, as well as the European Union and some of 
its Member States, namely Austria,  Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain 
and Sweden (being circulated in IP/C/W/ 647 and addenda). Updated information was also received 
from the GCC, UNCTAD, WHO,  WCO,  ARIPO , WIPO  and UPOV  (being circulated in 
IP/C/W/ 644/Rev.1  and add enda), as well as from the WTO Secretariat (IP/C/W/ 645).  
11  INTELLECTUAL PROPERT Y AND INNOVATION: SU MMARY OF THE 2017 TH EME ON 
INCLUSIVE INNOVATION  AND MICRO, SMALL AN D MEDIUM -SIZED ENTER PRISES 
(MSMES): COLLABORATI ON, GROWTH AND TRADE ; AND 2018 IP AND IN NOVAT ION 
THEME: THE SOCIETAL VALUE OF IP IN THE N EW ECONOMY  
11.1.   At the request of Australia; the European Union; Japan; Switzerland, the 
Separate  Customs  Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu; and the 
United  States  of America , the Council had on the agenda of its meeting in February an item on 
"Intellectual Property and Innovation: Summary of the 2017 Theme on Inclusive Innovation and 
Micro, Small and Medium -Sized Enterprises (MSMEs): Collaboration, Growth and Trade; and 2018 
IP and Innovation Theme: The Societal Value of IP in the New Economy ". It also had before it two 
communications, the first on "Inclusive Innovation and MSME Growth " (IP/C/W/638), 
co-sponsored by Australia; Canada; the European Union; Japan; Singapore; Swit zerland; the IP/C/81  
 
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  Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu; and the 
United  States  of America , and the second on "The Societal Value of IP in the New Economy " 
(IP/C/W/641), co -sponsored by Australia; the European Union; Japan; the Republic of Korea; 
Switzerland; the  Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu; and 
the United States of America.  
12  INTELLECTUAL PROPERT Y AND THE PUBLIC INT EREST: REGULATORY RE VIEW 
EXCEPTION  
12.1.   At the request of the Plurinational State of Bolivia, Br azil, China, Chile and South Africa, the 
Council had on the agenda of its meeting in February an item on "Intellectual Property and the 
Public Interest: Regulatory Review Exception ". It had before it a  communication from the 
co-sponsors on this topic (IP/C /W/639  and addend a). 
13  INTELLECTUAL PROPERT Y AND INNOVATION: THE SOCIETAL VALUE O F IP IN THE 
NEW ECONOMY  - IP IMPROVING LIVES  
13.1.   At the request of  Australia;  Canada; the European Union; Hong Kong, China; Japan; the 
Republic of Korea;  Switzerland; the Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and 
Matsu; and the United States of America , the Council had on the agenda of its meeting in June an 
item on  "Intellectual Proper ty and Innovation: The Societal Value of IP in the New Ec onomy  - IP 
Improving Lives ". It had before it a communication by the co -sponsors on  the same topic 
(IP/C/W/642) . 
14  LDC GROUP PROPOSAL O N THE IMPLEMENTATION  OF ARTICLE 66.2 OF THE TRIPS 
AGREEMENT (IP/C/W/64 0) 
14.1.   Following the request of the LDC Group, the agenda  of the Council 's meeting in June 
included an item on the "LDC Group Proposal on the Implementation of Article 66.2 of the TRIPS 
Agreement ". The Council had before it a communication from the LDC Group on the same topic 
that it had initially presented at the Council 's meeting in February (IP/C/W/640).  The LDC Group 
also made available a Room Document containing an "Illustrative List of Incentives by Developed 
Countries to the Enterprises and Institutions in Their Territory as Stipulated in Article 66.2 TRIP S" 
(RD/IP/24).  
15  INTELLECTUAL PROPERT Y AND THE PUBLIC INTEREST:  PROMOTING PUBLIC HE ALTH 
THROUGH COMPETITION LAW AND POLICY  
15.1.   At the request of  Brazil, China, India and South Africa , the Council had on the agenda of its 
meeting in June an item on "Intellectual Property and the Public Interest : Promoting Public Health 
Through Competition Law and Policy ". It had before it  a communication by the co -sponsors on the 
same topic  (IP/C/W/ 643). 
16  INTELLECTUAL PROPERT Y AND INNOVATION: TH E SOCIETAL VALUE OF IP IN THE 
NEW ECONOMY - IP AND  NEW BUSINESS  
16.1.   At the request of Australia; the European Union; Japan; the Republic of Korea; Switzerland; 
the Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu; the 
United  States  of America ; and co-sponsored by Brazil , the Council had on the agenda of its 
meeting in November  an item on "Intellectual Property and Innovation: The Societal Value of IP in 
the New Economy - IP and New Business ". It had before it a communication by the co -sponsors on 
the same topic (IP/C/W/6 48 and addend um). 
17  INTELLECTUAL PROPERT Y AND THE PUBLIC INT EREST: PROMOTING PUB LIC HEALTH 
THROUGH COMPETITION LAW AND POLICY  
17.1.   As a follow -up to the discussions conducted at its  meeting in June, a t the request of 
South  Africa,  co-sponsored by Brazil , China  and India,  the Council had on the agenda of its 
meeting in November  again  an item on "Intellectual Property and the Public Interest: Promoting 
Public Health Through Competition Law and Policy ". It had before it a communication by the 
co-sponsors on the same topic (IP/C/W/64 9 and addenda ). IP/C/81  
 
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  18  INFORMATION ON RELEV ANT DEVELOPMENTS ELS EWHERE IN THE WTO  
18.1.   At the Council 's meetings in February , June and Novem ber, 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 at its meetings in February 
and June.  
18.2.   At the Council 's meeting in June , the Chair informed Members that the 
United  States  of America  had requested consultations with China under the Dispute Settlement 
Mechanism regarding "Certain Measures Concerning the Protection of Intellectual Property Rights " 
(IP/D/38).  At the Council 's meeting in November, the Chair informed Members that the European 
Union had request ed consultations with China under the Dispute Settlement Mechanism regarding 
"Certain Measures on the Transfer of Technology " (IP/D/39). T he Chair also informed Members 
that Qatar had request ed consultations with Saudi Arabia regarding "Measures Concerning the 
Protection of Intellectual Property Rights " (IP/D/40).  At the same meeting, the Chair also informed 
Members that the Dispute Settlement Body had adopted two Panel repor ts regarding Australia – 
Certain Measures Concerning Trademarks, Geographical Indications and Other Plain Packaging 
Requirements Applicable to Tobacco Products and Packaging concerning the complaints by Cuba 
(IP/D/33/Add.1) and  Indonesia (IP/D/34/Add.1) . The Chair also informed Members of the appeals 
of certain findings of the Panel report s on the same subject matter by Honduras (WT/DS435/R  and 
WT/DS435/23 ) and the Dominican Republic (WT/DS441/R  and WT/DS441/23 ). 
19  OBSERVER STATUS FOR INTERNATIONAL INTERG OVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIO NS 
19.1.   At each regular meeting, t he Council continued its consideration of the pending requests 
for observer status from international intergovernmental organizations.   
19.2.   At its meeting in November, the Council agreed to grant permanent obser ver status to the 
GCC. 
20  OTHER BUSINESS  
20.1.   At its  meeting in  June, the Council considered how  best to give appropriate follow -up to the 
Ministerial Decision to continue the work under the Work Programme on Electronic Commerce 
(WT/L/1032) , including a proposal to update an earlier Secretariat background on the topic that 
had been last revised in 2003 (IP/C/W/128/Rev.1).  At its meeting in November, the Chair noted 
that there had been no developments on this matter since he had reported the state of play of the 
discussions to the General Council at its first review of the Work Programme in July. He informed 
Members that, if so requested, he would report accordingly to the General Council during its 
second review of the Work Programme at its meeting in December.  
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