RESTRICTED  
  
IP/C/M/76  
 
27 June 2014  
(14-3751)  Page: 1/9  
Council for Trade-Related Aspects of  
Intellectual Property Rights    
 
 MINUTES OF MEETING 
HELD IN THE CENTRE WILLIAM RAPPARD ON 11 JUNE 2014 
Chairperson: Ambassador Mothusi Palai (Botswana) 
 
 
The present document contains the record of the Council for TRIPS meeting held on 11 June 2014. The statements made during the meeting will be  circulated in an addendum to the present 
document. 
 
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Subjects discussed 
  
1   ELECTION OF THE CHAIRPERSON ................................................................................ 3
 
2   NOTIFICATIONS UNDER PROV ISIONS OF THE AGREEMENT ........................................ 3  
3   REVIEWS OF NATIONAL IM PLEMENTING LEGISLATION .............................................. 4  
3.1   Review of the national implementing  legislation of the Ru ssian Federa tion ......................... 4  
3.2   Follow-up to revi ews already und ertaken ...................................................................... 4  
3.3   Arrangements for the review of the nati onal implementing legislation of Tajikistan .............. 4  
4   REVIEW OF THE PROVISIONS OF ARTICLE 27.3(B) ..................................................... 5  
5   RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE TRIPS AGREEMENT AND THE CONVENTION ON 
BIOLOGICAL DI VERSITY .................................................................................................. 5  
6   PROTECTION OF TRADITIONA L KNOWLEDGE AND FOLKLORE ..................................... 5  
7   NON-VIOLATION AND SITUATION COMPLAINTS ......................................................... 5  
8   REVIEW OF THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE TRIPS AGREEMENT UNDER 
ARTICLE 71.1 .................................................................................................................. . 6 
9   REVIEW OF THE APPLICATION OF THE PROVISIONS OF THE SECTION ON 
GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATION S UNDER ARTI CLE 24.2 ...................................................... 6  
10   TECHNICAL COOPERATION AND CAPACITY-BUILDING .............................................. 6  
10.1   Arrangements fo r the annual review ........................................................................... 6  
10.2   Othe r matte rs ......................................................................................................... 7 
11   CONTRIBUTION OF INTELLECTUA L PROPERTY TO FACILITATE THE 
TRANSFER OF ENVIRONMENTALLY RATIONAL TECHNOLOGY ........................................... 7  
12   IP AND INNOVATION: I NNOVATION INCU BATORS ................................................... 7  
13   INFORMATION ON RELEVANT DEVE LOPMENTS ELSEWHER E IN THE WTO ................. 7  IP/C/M/76 
 
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  14   OBSERVER STATUS FOR INTERNATIONAL INTERGOVERNMENTAL 
ORGANIZATIONS ............................................................................................................. 8  
15   OTHER BU SINESS ...................................................................................................... 8  
15.1   Invitations to ad hoc obse rvers .................................................................................. 8  
15.2   Twelfth Annual Review under Paragraph 2 of the Decision on the "Implementation 
of Article 66.2 of the TRIPS Agreement" ............................................................................... 8  
15.3   Othe r revi ews ......................................................................................................... 9 
 
  IP/C/M/76 
 
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1  ELECTION OF THE CHAIRPERSON 
1.1.  The representative of the Secretariat said that the TRIPS Council's rules of procedure 
provided that "[t]he election [of the Chairperson] shall take place at the first meeting of the year 
and shall take effect at the end of the meeting", and that "[t]he Chairperson […] shall hold office 
until the end of the first meeting of the followin g year". The normal WTO practice was that the 
General Council meets in early February and notes a consensus on a slate of names of 
chairpersons for WTO bodies. On the basis of the understanding reached by the General Council, 
the TRIPS Council then elects, at its first meeting of the year, its Chairperson for the coming year. Exceptionally this year, the General Council had not met until 14 March 2014, which was after the first meeting of the TRIPS Council in 2014. For that reason, the TRIPS Council had agreed, at its 
meeting in February 2014, to elect its new Chair at  the beginning of the present meeting, with the 
understanding that, as soon as the General Counc il had agreed on the slate of names, the TRIPS 
Council Chair-designate could take up his role as the Chair, including holding any consultations in 
preparation of the present meeting, pending his formal election by the Council. 
1.2.  At its meeting on 14 March, the General Council had noted the consensus on a slate of names 
of chairpersons for WTO bodies. On the basis of the understanding reached, he proposed that the 
Council for TRIPS elect H.E. Mr Mothusi Palai from Botswana as its Chairperson for the coming year 
by acclamation. 
1.3.  The Council so agreed. 
2  NOTIFICATIONS UNDER PROVISIONS OF THE AGREEMENT 
2.1.  The Chairman said that, since its meeting in February 2014, the Council had received a 
number of updates to earlier notifications of laws and regulations notified under Article 63.2. of the 
Agreement: 
 Colombia had notified a law on enforcement of IPRs; and its approval of the Brussels 
Convention Relating to the Distribution of  Programme-Carrying Signals Transmitted by 
Satellite; 
 the European Union had notified a directive on collective management of copyright and 
related rights and multi-territorial licensing of rights in musical works for online use in the internal market; 
 Chinese Taipei had notified the Enforcement Rules of the Trademark Act and updates to its 
acts on patents, copyright collective management; trade secrets and layout-designs of 
integrated circuits; 
 Bahrain had notified a complete set of laws relating to trademarks, trade secrets, 
geographical indications, patents and utility models, industrial designs, and integrated 
circuits; in addition, it has advised the Council concerning its membership in the following treaties: the Nice Agreement, the Patent Coop eration Treaty, the Trademark Law Treaty, the 
Patent Law Treaty, the Madrid Protocol, the Plant Variety Treaty and the Budapest Treaty; 
 Macao, China had notified amendments to  its Copyright and Related Rights Code; 
 Hong Kong, China had notified amending legislation on patents, registered designs, 
trademarks and layout-designs of integrated circuits; and 
 the Russian Federation had notified amendments to its laws relating to the protection of 
IPRs in telecommunication networks; as well as to its codes on criminal procedures and administrative offences. 
2.2.  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. IP/C/M/76 
 
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  2.3.  As regards notifications of contact points  under Article 69 for the exchange of information 
and cooperation on trade in infringing goods, since the Council's meeting in February 2014, Congo had submitted its contact point. The information on the Members' transparency toolkit page had 
been updated accordingly. 
2.4.  The Chairman encouraged the delegations th at had notified a new or revised law, or an 
update to the enforcement checklist, to inform  the Council, briefly, about the nature of the 
amendment or update. Several delegations had followed this practice at recent sessions of the 
Council and it had provided valuable insight into  the notifications provided and had assisted in 
promoting awareness and transparency. 
2.5.  He further urged those Members whose initial notifications of laws and regulations remained 
incomplete to submit the outstanding material wi thout delay. Equally, he urged other Members to 
fulfil their obligation under the Agreement to noti fy any subsequent amendments of their laws and 
regulations without delay after their entry into forc e. He especially encouraged Members to notify 
changes made to their laws and/or regulations to implement the Decision on TRIPS and public 
health. 
2.6.  The representatives of Turkey  and the Secretariat took the floor. 
2.7.  The Council took note of the statements made. 
3  REVIEWS OF NATIONAL IMPLEMENTING LEGISLATION 
3.1  Review of the national implementing  legislation of the Russian Federation 
3.1.  The Chairman recalled that the Council had initiated the review if the national implementing 
legislation of the Russian Federation at its meetin g in October 2013. The Council had taken note of 
the notifications submitted by the Russian Federation, as well as the questions put to it in advance 
of the meeting and the responses it had given. Si nce then, the United States had posed follow-up 
questions (IP/C/W/589/Add.1). The Russian Federa tion had just provided responses to these 
follow-up questions (being circulated in document IP/C/W/592/Add.1). Since the responses to the 
US follow-up questions had been received just pr ior to the meeting and were for the time being 
available only in English, he said that delegations might wish to have some time to study the 
responses. He, therefore, suggested that the Council agree to revert to the matter at its next 
meeting. 
3.2.  The Council so agreed.  
3.2   Follow-up to reviews already undertaken 
3.3.  The Chairman recalled that the reviews of two Members' national implementing legislation 
that had been initiated at the Council's meetings since April 2001 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. 
3.4.  The Council took note of the information provided. 
3.3  Arrangements for the review of the nati onal implementing legislation of Tajikistan 
3.5.  The Chairman recalled that, at its meetin g in February 2014, the Council had agreed to 
review the national implementing legislation of Tajikistan, a newly acceded Member, at its meeting 
scheduled for 28-29 October 2014. The Council had set the following target dates for the 
submission of questions and answers in this review: 
 questions should be submitted to Tajikistan, wi th a copy to the Secretariat, by 19 August 
2014; and  
 responses to questions posed within that de adline should be submitted by 30 September 
2014. IP/C/M/76 
 
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  4  REVIEW OF THE PROVISIONS OF ARTICLE 27.3(B) 
5  RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE TRIPS AGREEMENT AND THE CONVENTION ON 
BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY 
6  PROTECTION OF TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE AND FOLKLORE 
6.1.  The Chairman suggested that the Council  continue to discuss the three agenda items 
together on the basis of contributions by Members.  He said that, as requested by the Council, he 
had continued his predecessors' consultations 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 summarize the points delegations had made in the Council's past discussions under these three agenda items. These notes had been originally prepared in response to a request at the Council meeting in March 2002 that the Secretariat prepare short papers summarizing the issues 
raised and the points made by delegations in th e Council's discussions until then. The Secretariat 
had circulated these three notes in August 2002. At its meeting in September 2002, the Council had requested the Secretariat to periodically upda te these summary notes, and that this be done 
not after every meeting, but when significant new material had been presented. Pursuant to this 
decision, updated versions of these notes had been circulated in March 2006. 
6.2.  In his consultations, some delegations had felt that there had been important developments 
since 2006 and that the notes therefore would need to be updated. One delegation had felt that 
there had not been the same amount of developments  in all areas and that, therefore, it might not 
be necessary to treat them all the same way. He had encouraged interested delegations to talk directly to each other to see if agreement could be reached. Hoverer, at this stage he was not yet 
in a position to report adequate convergence on this matter. 
6.3.  He said that the Council had also requested him to continue consultations on the suggestion 
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. In his consultations, one delegation had noted that many parties to the Protocol were already in the process of implementing it; therefore, it might be more interesting to hear 
what these parties were doing domestically to implement it. Another delegation had said that 
delegations were already well briefed on the Protocol concluded almost four years ago and, therefore, could not support such a briefing at a Council meeting. Some others had continued to 
feel that a briefing by the CBD Secretariat at a Council meeting would still be important. A possible 
compromise mentioned was that the CBD Secretariat would provide a briefing at a side event. 
However, at this stage he was not in a position to report agreement on this matter. 
6.4.  The representatives of India, China, Brazil,  Bangladesh, the Plurinational State of Bolivia, 
Ecuador, Colombia, Indonesia, Peru, the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Egypt, the United 
States, Cuba, South Africa, Japan, Canada, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Cuba and the Food 
and Agriculture Organization took the floor.  
6.5.  In light of the discussion, the Chairman su ggested that the Council request him to continue 
consulting on the suggestions that the CBD Secretariat be invited to brief the Council on the 
Nagoya Protocol to the CBD, 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. 
6.6.  The Council took note of the statements made and so agreed.  
7  NON-VIOLATION AND SITUATION COMPLAINTS 
7.1.  The Chairman recalled that, at the Ninth Se ssion of the Ministerial Conference, Ministers 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 their next Session, which they had decided to hold in 2015. It had been 
agreed that, in the meantime, Members will no t initiate such complaints under the TRIPS 
Agreement. At its meeting in February 2014, the Council had had its first discussion of the matter IP/C/M/76 
 
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  after the Ministerial Conference. The United Stat es had just submitted a paper entitled "Non-
Violation Complaints under the TRIPS Agreement" (being circulated in document IP/C/W/599). 
7.2.  In opening the floor for comments, he said that he would particularly welcome any thoughts 
on how the Council could best move forward on this matter in order to be in a position to agree in 
a timely manner on its recommendations to the next Ministerial Conference. He recalled that the 
Council's original mandate under Article 64 of the Agreement was to provide recommendations on scope and modalities of such disputes to the Mini sterial Conference by 1999, and that the Council 
had most recently been asked to work towards establishing recommendations for the Ministerial 
Conference that would be convened at the end of 2015. 
7.3.  The representatives of the United States, th e Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Switzerland, 
South Africa, Brazil, China, Bangladesh, the Plurinational State of Bolivia, India, Japan, Egypt, the 
European Union, Korea, Cuba, Nigeria on behalf of the African Group, Canada, the Russian 
Federation, Chinese Taipei, Ecuador, Colombia and Peru took the floor. 
7.4.  The Council took note of the statements made  and agreed to revert to the matter at its next 
meeting. 
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 GI Section 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 IP/C/13/Add.1, which a number of Member s 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.  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. As the 
question of GI protection remained of continuing interest and remained a point of discussion, he invited those delegations that had not yet provid ed responses to the Checklist of Questions to 
consider doing so. He also encouraged those Members that had already provided responses to 
provide updates to the extent there had been an y significant changes to the way they protected 
GIs. In line with the Council's recommendation made in March 2010, he also encouraged any 
Member that was party to any bilateral agreement related to the protection of GIs and had not yet 
shared such information with the Council to do so. 
9.3.  The Council took note of the information prov ided and agreed to revert to the matter at its 
next meeting. 
10  TECHNICAL COOPERATION AND CAPACITY-BUILDING 10.1  Arrangements for the annual review 10.1.  The Chairman recalled that the Council had traditionally undertaken its annual review of 
technical cooperation at its end-of-year meeting. Therefore, he suggested that the Council hold its 
annual review at its meeting scheduled for 28-29 October. Accordingly, he suggested that the Council once more invite developed country Members to supply information on their activities 
pursuant to Article 67 of the TRIPS Agreement. Other Members who also make available technical 
cooperation were encouraged to share information on these activities if they so wish. He also suggested that once more the Council invite those intergovernmental organizations that had 
observer status in the Council to provide informat ion on their activities of relevance and that the IP/C/M/76 
 
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  WTO Secretariat might also be instructed to report on its activities. He proposed that the Council 
request that this information be made available by 7 October 2014 in order to allow its timely circulation before the meeting. 
10.2.  Given the extensive documentation that had been provided on this topic, and the benefits of 
a streamlined approach to its management, reporting Members were encouraged to review the 
possible approaches that had in the past been su ggested in the Council. The Secretariat was able 
to provide informal support and background in this regard on request to interested delegations. 
10.3.  The Council so agreed. 
10.2  Other matters 
10.4.  The representative of the Secretariat informed the Council about a workshop it was 
organizing on the following two days, entitled "Realizing Development Objectives of the IP System: 
LDC Priority Needs for Technical and Financial Cooperation". 
10.5.  The representatives of Bangladesh, Nepal and Australia took the floor. 
10.6.  The Council took note of the statements made and agreed to revert to the matter at its next 
meeting. 11  CONTRIBUTION OF INTELLECTUAL PROP ERTY TO FACILITATE THE TRANSFER OF 
ENVIRONMENTALLY RATIONAL TECHNOLOGY 
11.1.  The Chairman said that this item had been  put on the agenda at the written request by the 
delegation of Ecuador. He recalled that, at the Council's meeting in March 2013, Ecuador had 
briefly presented, under "Other Business", its submission entitled "Contribution of Intellectual Property for Facilitating the Tr ansfer of Environmentally Rati onal Technology" (IP/C/W/585 in 
English and French, and IP/C/W/585/Rev.1 in Spanish) At Ecuador's request, the Council had 
continued this discussion at its subsequent meeting in June 2013 under agenda item "Intellectual Property, Climate Change and Development", an d in October 2013 and February 2014 under the 
current heading. 
11.2.  The representatives of Ecuador, the United States, Switzerland, Cuba, Japan, Chile, the 
European Union, El Salvador, Canada, Brazil, China, World Intellectual Property Organization, 
Peru, Brazil, India, the Bolivarian Republic of Vene zuela, and Nigeria on behalf of the African Group 
took the floor.  
11.3.  The Council took note of the statements made. 
12  IP AND INNOVATION: INNOVATION INCUBATORS 
12.1.  The Chairman said that this item had been  put on the agenda at the written request by the 
delegations of Chinese Taipei and the United States. 
12.2.  The item was cosponsored by Panama. The representatives of Chinese Taipei, the United 
States, Panama, Hong Kong, China, Japan, Chile , New Zealand, Canada, Switzerland, India, 
Botswana, El Salvador, the European Union and Brazil took the floor. 
12.3.  The Council took note of the statements made. 
13  INFORMATION ON RELEVANT DEVELOPMENTS ELSEWHERE IN THE WTO  
13.1.  As regards the status of acceptances of by Members of the Protocol Amending the TRIPS 
Agreement, the Chairman said that, since the Council's meeting in February 2014, Turkey had 
deposited its instrument of acceptance (WT/Let/946). To date, 51 instruments of acceptance had 
been deposited, including the one from the European Union and its member States. IP/C/M/76 
 
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  13.2.  He encouraged those Members that had not yet notified their acceptance of the Protocol to 
ensure that necessary measures were being taken in their capitals to allow the consideration of the acceptance in a timely fashion. 
13.3.  The representative of Uruguay took the floor. 
13.4.  As regards new accession to the WTO, the Chairman said that Yemen had deposited its 
Instrument of Acceptance with the Director-General on 27 May.1 According to the WTO rules, 
Yemen would become the 160th Member of the WTO on 26 June. 
13.5.  The Council took note of the statements made.  
14  OBSERVER STATUS FOR INTERNATIONAL INTERGOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS 
14.1.  The Chairman said 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 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 it felt that 
no update was necessary since it had already renewed its request as recently as 24/11/2010 by 
means of a letter addressed to the WTO Director-General. This information was available on the Members' website. 
14.2.  The Council took note of the information provided and agreed to revert to the matter at its 
next meeting. 15  OTHER BUSINESS 15.1  Invitations to ad hoc observers 
15.1.  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. 
15.2.  The Council so agreed. 
15.2  Twelfth Annual Review under Paragraph 2 of the Decision on the "Implementation 
of Article 66.2 of the TRIPS Agreement" 
15.3.  The Chairman recalled that paragraph 1 of the Decision on the "Implementation of 
Article 66.2 of the TRIPS Agreement" provides that developed country Members shall submit 
annually reports on actions taken or planned in pursuance of their commitments under Article 66.2. To this end, they must provide ne w detailed reports every third year and, in the 
intervening years, provide updates to their most recent reports. These reports must be submitted 
prior to the last Council meeting scheduled for the year in question. Paragraph 3 of the decision determines the information that must be provided in these reports. 
15.4.  The first, second and third sets of de tailed annual reports under the Decision had been 
presented to the Council's end-of-year meetings in 2003, 2006, 2009 and 2012, and updates to 
the Council's meetings in the intervening years. Therefore, this year developed country Members 
should submit a second set of updates to the fourth set of new detailed reports on actions taken or 
planned in pursuance of their commitments under Article 66.2 that they had submitted last year. 
                                               
1 The Protocol on the Accession of the Republic of  Yemen has been circulated in document WT/L/905 
and the Report of the Working Party on the Accession of the Republic of Yemen in document WT/ACC/YEM/42.  IP/C/M/76 
 
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  These updates should be provided prior to the Council's end of year meeting that had been 
scheduled for 28-29 October. As provided in paragraph 2 of the Decision, the Council shall review these updates at that meeting. 
15.5.  Accordingly, he suggested that developed country Members be requested to provide a 
second set of updates to the fourth set of new detailed reports they had provided in 2012 on 
actions they had taken or planned in pursuance of their commitments under Article 66.2 by 7 October, in order to allow their timely circulation and review at the Council's meeting later that 
month. 
15.6.  The Council's deliberations on past reports in this area and regular workshops convened on 
this matter had drawn attention to possible practical approaches to facilitating the submission, processing and consultation of these reports. Given the extensive documentation that had been 
provided on this topic, and the benefits of a streamlined approach to its management, reporting 
Members were encouraged to review the possibl e approaches that had been suggested. The 
Secretariat was able to provide informal support and background in this regard on request to 
interested delegations. 
15.7.  The Council so agreed. 
15.3  Other reviews 
15.8.  The Chairman said that, as already discussed under item 10, the Council would take up at 
its October meeting its annual review of technical cooperation under Article 67. The Council would 
also have on its agenda the annual review of the functioning of the Paragraph 6 System. In preparation of this review, he encouraged Members to share either directly with him or through 
the Secretariat any thoughts or suggestions they might have concerning the arrangements for this 
review. If needed, he would be available to consult with interested delegations on the preparations of the review. 
15.9.  The Council took note of the information provided. 
 
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