WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  IP/C/52 
5 November 2009 
 
 (09-5533) 
  
  
 
ANNUAL REPORT (2009) OF THE COUNCIL FOR TRIPS  
 
 
I. GENERAL 
1. Since the period covered by its 2008 report
1, the Council for TRIPS has held three formal 
meetings, on 3 March, 8-9 June, a nd 27-28 October.  The minutes of these meetings are to be found in 
documents IP/C/M/59-61.2 
2. The meeting in March was chaired by Ambas sador Dennis Francis (Trinidad and Tobago), 
and the subsequent meetings by Am bassador Karen Tan (Singapore). 
3. The meetings of the Council were open to all WTO Members, other governments with 
observer status in WTO bodies and certain interna tional intergovernmental organizations granted 
observer status in the Council.  The Food and Ag riculture Organization (FAO), the International 
Monetary Fund (IMF), the International Union for th e Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV), 
the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and De velopment (OECD), the United Nations (UN), the 
United Nations Conference on Trade and Develo pment (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 Council.  At its meeting in  March 2002, the Council agreed to a request from the 
Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNA IDS) for observer status during the Council's 
discussions on the TRIPS Agreement and public health  at that and future meetings.  Decisions on 
requests for observer status from 17 other organizations are pending.3 
II. NOTIFICATIONS UNDER THE PROV ISIONS OF THE AGREEMENT 
4. The Council took note of new notifications under various provisions of the 
TRIPS Agreement.  To date, 126 Memb ers have notified, pursuant to Artic le 63.2, all or part of their 
implementing legislation relating to  all provisions of the Agreement.  Ninety-nine Members have 
provided responses to the Checklist of Issues on En forcement.  During the reporting period, some 
Members have updated their earlier notifications of laws and regulations.  To  date, 123 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.  A number of 
Members have updated the information they had earlier provided.4 
III. REVIEWS OF NATIONAL LAWS AND REGULATIONS 
5. During the reporting period, the Council review ed the legislation of Tonga and Ukraine, 
completed its review of the legislation of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines that had been initiated 
                                                      
1 Document IP/C/51. 
2 Document IP/C/M/61 to be circulated. 
3 The Organizations in question are listed in document IP/C/W/52/Rev.11. 
4 This information on contact points is contained in document IP/N/3/Rev.10 and addenda. IP/C/52 
Page 2  
 
  earlier, and took note of the outstanding material required to complete the pending reviews of five 
other Members. 
IV. TRANSITIONAL REVIEW UNDER SECTION 18 OF THE PROTOCOL ON THE 
ACCESSION OF PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA 
6. At its October meeting, the Council undertook the eight annual transitional review of the 
implementation by China of its WTO commitments pursuant to Section 18 of the Protocol on the 
Accession of the People's Republic of China (WT/L/ 432), and agreed that the Chair, acting on her 
own responsibility, would prepare a factual report on the review to the General Council.
5 
V. REVIEW OF THE PROVISIONS OF ARTICLE 27.3(b);  RELATIONSHIP 
BETWEEN THE TRIPS AGREEMENT AND THE CONVENTION ON 
BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY;  AND PROTECTION OF TRADITIONAL 
KNOWLEDGE AND FOLKLORE 
7. At the Council's meeting in March 2006, the Chair recalled that, in paragraph 44 of the 
Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration, Ministers had taken note of the work undertaken by the TRIPS 
Council pursuant to paragraph 19 of the Doha Minister ial Declaration and agreed that this work shall 
continue on the basis of paragraph 19 of the Doha  Ministerial Declaration and the progress made in 
the TRIPS Council to date.  The Council agreed to  maintain its present method of work on these 
matters at that stage, and to keep this method unde r review to assess whether any change might prove 
appropriate in the light of developments. 
8. Accordingly, since the practice in the Council's p ast meetings had been that delegates address 
these three agenda items together, it has continued to  discuss these three agenda items together on the 
basis of contributions by Members.  The Council' s work in 2006-2008 is described, respectively, in 
paragraph 7 of document IP/C/44, paragraph 8 of document IP/C/ 48, and paragraph 7 of document 
IP/C/51 (Annual Reports 2006-2008).  In 2009, th e Council continued its examination of the 
proposals by Members, in particular on the re lationship between the TR IPS Agreement and the 
Convention on Biological Diversity.  In these discussions, some delegations referred to a 
communication from Albania, Brazil, China, Colombia, Croatia, Ecuador, the European 
Communities, Georgia, Iceland, India, Indonesia,  the Kyrgyz Republic, Liechtenstein, the Former 
Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Moldova, Pakistan, Peru, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Thailand, 
Turkey, the ACP Group and the African Group to  the Trade Negotiations Committee on "Draft 
Modalities for TRIPS Related Issues" circulated  in July 2008 in document TN/C/W/52 and 
addenda 1-3.  No new submissi ons were made to the Council. 
VI. NON-VIOLATION AND SITUATION COMPLAINTS 
9. At its meeting in March 2006, the Council had agreed to keep the item on non-violation and 
situation complaints on the agenda as a regular item so as to allow Members who would have new 
thinking to share it, and also enable the Council to consider improved ways of organizing its work on this matter.  At its meetings in March and June 2009, the Council requested the Chair to hold 
consultations on the matter.  At its meeting in October 2009, the Council agreed to keep open this 
agenda item and that the Chair continue her consu ltations on the matter.  The Chair said that she 
hoped to be able to reconvene the Council once the fu rther work was sufficiently mature, with a view 
to the Council agreeing on a recommendation to the Ministerial Conference. 
                                                     
 
5 The report will be circulated in IP/C- series of documents.  IP/C/52 
 Page 3 
 
 
  VII. REVIEW OF IMPLEMENTATION OF  THE TRIPS AGREEMENT UNDER 
ARTICLE 71 
10. No statements were made or documents subm itted by delegations unde r this agenda item. 
VIII.  REVIEW OF THE APPLICATION OF THE PROVISIONS OF THE SECTION ON 
GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATIONS UNDER ARTICLE 24.2 
11. No statements were made or documents subm itted by delegations under this agenda item.  
The Chair urged those delegations that had not  yet provided responses to the Checklist of 
Questions (IP/C/13 and Add.1) to do so, and said al so that those Members that had already provided 
responses could provide updates to the extent there had been any significant ch anges to the way they 
provided protection to geographical indications. 
IX. REVIEW UNDER PARAGRAPH 8 OF THE DECISION ON THE 
IMPLEMENTATION OF PARAGRAPH 6 OF THE DOHA DECLARATION ON THE TRIPS AGREEMENT AND PUBLIC HEALTH 
12. At its meeting in October, the Council took up the annual review, pursuant to paragraph 8 of 
the "Decision on the Implementation of Paragr aph 6 of the Doha Declaration on the TRIPS 
Agreement and Public Health", of the functioning of  the system set out in the Decision.  The Council 
requested the Chair to hold consultations on the ope ration of the Paragraph 6 system.  The Council's 
report to the General Council on the operation of the system set out in the Decision will be circulated 
in IP/C/- series of documents.  The Council agreed  to forward to the General Council a proposal for a 
decision to extend the period of acceptance by Members of the Protocol until 31 December 2011.
6 
13. As requested by the Council, the Secretaria t periodically updated the note on the status of 
acceptances of the Protocol Amending the TRIPS Agreement.7 
X. IMPLEMENTATION OF ARTICLE 66.2 
14. At its meetings in March, the Council fo llowed up its sixth annual review pursuant to 
paragraph 2 of the "Decision on the Implementa tion of Article 66.2 of the TRIPS Agreement"8 that it 
had taken up at its meeting in October 2008. 
15. At its meeting in October 2009, the Council t ook up its seventh annual review of developed 
country Members' reports on their implementation of  Article 66.2.  For this review, the Council 
received the third set of new detailed reports on act ions they had taken or planned in pursuance of 
their commitments under Article 66.2 from the follo wing developed country Members:  Japan, the 
United States, Australia, Switzerland, Norway, Cana da and New Zealand.  This documentation is 
being circulated in document IP/C/W/536 and addenda. 
XI. TECHNICAL COOPERATION AND CAPACITY-BUILDING 
16. At its meeting in June, the Council invited de veloped country Members to supply information 
on their activities pursuant to Article 67 of the TRIPS Agreement prior to the annual special review of 
this matter that was held at its October meeting.  Intergovernmental organiza tions that have observer 
status in the TRIPS Council were invited to provi de information on their activities of relevance and, 
further, the WTO Secretariat was instructed to re port on its activities.  The Council received updated 
                                                      
6 To be circulated in IP/C /- series of documents. 
7 The latest version has been circulated as document IP/C/W/490/Rev.5. 
8 Document IP/C/28. IP/C/52 
Page 4  
 
  information from the following developed country Me mbers:  Japan, the United States, Australia, 
Switzerland, Norway, Canada and New Zealand (b eing circulated in IP/C/W/539 and addenda).  
Updated information was received also from the OECD, WIPO and UNCTAD (being circulated in 
IP/C/W/541 and addenda), as well as from the WTO Secretariat (IP/C/W/535). 
17. The Council continued its discussion on LDC prio rity needs for technical and financial 
cooperation.  At its meeting in Oc tober, it had before it a note by the Secretariat on "Least Developed 
Country Members' Priority Needs Assessments:  the Aid-for-Trade Initiative and the Enhanced 
Integrated Framework" (IP/C/W/544).  The Chair ur ged those least-develope d country Members that 
had not yet provided information to the Council on their individual priority needs pursuant to 
paragraph 2 of the decision on the "Extension of  the Transition Period under Article 66.1 for 
Least-Developed Country Members" to do so.  The Council also continued its discussion of a 
communication Brazil had presented at its meeti ng in June 2008 entitled "T echnical Cooperation and 
Capacity Building:  'Cluster' A of the Develo pment Agenda" (IP/C/W/513).  For its meeting in 
October, it received additional information from Brazil in relation to this communication (being 
circulated in IP/C/W/513/Add.1).  XII. OBSERVER STATUS FOR INTERNATIONAL INTERGOVERNMENTAL 
ORGANIZATIONS 
18. The Council continued its consideration of the pending requests for observer status from 
international intergovernmental organizations.  At  each meeting, the Chair informed the Council on 
the Chair's consultations on the request for ob server status received from the CBD Secretariat. 
 XIII.  LETTER FROM THE CHAIR OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL CONCERNING 
WAYS TO IMPROVE THE TIMELINESS AND COMPLETENESS OF NOTIFICATION AND OTHER INFORMATION FLOWS 
19. At its meeting in March, the Chair informed the Council, under "Other business", of a letter 
received from the Chair of the General Council requ esting the Chair to consult with Members on 
ways to improve the timeliness and completeness of notifications and other information flows on 
trade measures falling within the Council's competence.  This matter was put on the agenda of the Council's subsequent meetings.  At its meeting in June, the Council inv ited the Secretariat to prepare a 
factual background note summarizing the relevant pro cedures and providing references to the relevant 
decisions, as well as providing information on the u se of these procedures by Members, and also 
prepare suggestions for the Council's considerati on at its next meeting on how to improve the 
transparency and user-friendliness of the notifica tion system, for example by making notifications 
more easily accessible on the WTO webpage.  This  Secretariat note (IP/C/W/543) was presented to 
the Council's meeting in October. 
XIV.  OTHER BUSINESS 
20. At its meeting in March, the Council considered, under "Other business", the issue of "Public 
health dimension of the TRIPS Agreement" raised by  Brazil and India, and the issue of the "Effective 
operation of the Paragraph 6 system" raised by India. 
21. At its meeting in June, it consid ered, under "Other business", the issue of "Seizure of generic 
drug consignments at EC ports" raised by Brazil and India. 
22. At its meeting in October, it considered the i ssue of "Public health dimension of the TRIPS 
Agreement" raised by India and Brazil. 
__________