RESTRICTEDWORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONIP/C/W/241
30 January 2001
(01-0489)
Council for Trade-Related Aspects
of Intellectual Property RightsOriginal:  English
TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE ON TRIPS NOTIFICATION BETWEEN WTO MEMBERS
Communication from Australia;  Bangladesh;  the European Communities
and their member States;  Hong K ong, China;  Norway;  and Zambia
By means of a communication, dated 29 January 2001, the following text has been received
from the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office with the request that it be circulated to Members.
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Background
1. Starting from January 2000, developing country Members have taken on the full range of
obligations under the TRIPS Agreement.  Least-developed country Members will start to have to take
on similar obligations with effect from 1 January 2006 (unless an extension is granted pursuant to
Article 66.1 of the TRIPS Agreement).
2. Article 63.2 of the TRIPS Agreement imposes an obligation on Members to notify their laws
to WTO Members through the TRIPS Council.  This gives other Members the opportunity to studythe laws of the Members concerned and raise any questions they may have.
3. The process pursuant to Article 63.2 is not a "test" which Members pass or fail:  it is an
exercise in transparency.  Transparent commercial legislation – including legislation on intellectual
property – plays an important role in facilitating international trade and investment.  Providing
transparency in IP legislation can also help Members to compete in a free and open internationaltrading environment as well as to attract inward investment.
4. Some Members may have difficulties in reaching the level of transparency that will allow
them to meet obligations under the TRIPS Agreement.  It may also be difficult for them to maximize
the transparency of their legislation so as to a llow them to attract inward investment.  Australia;
Bangladesh;  the European Communities and their me mber States;  Hong Kong, China;  Norway;  and
Zambia propose a simple and inexpensive multilateral scheme through which groups of Members
could assist each other in this respect.
5. In terms of developing substantive IP legislation in compliance with TRIPS standards, WIPO
and the WTO provide a wide range of assistance.  However, some Members may be interested in
sharing their experiences involving the specif ic notification requirements under the TRIPS
Agreement.IP/C/W/241
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6. To facilitate the sharing of experiences, a purely voluntary and informal system needs to be
developed whereby WTO Members will be able to assist least-developed country Members to comply
with the TRIPS Review and Notification process contemplated under the TRIPS Agreement.  Some
developing country Members that may have experienced difficulties in complying with these
obligations may also be able to benefit from the system on an exceptional basis.  This system shouldbe developed between WTO Members so that the pool of experts providing the technical assistance
come from more than one Member of the WTO.  Assistance to any one Member would be provided
by experts from one or more Members participating in the system.
Proposals
7. Australia;  Bangladesh;  the European Communities and their member States;  Hong Kong,
China;  Norway;  and Zambia propose that a list be made available of Members who are willing toassist other Members in notifying their IP laws to  the TRIPS Council in a transparent fashion.  The
following should be noted:
• The assistance to be provided is specific in nature and does not detract from the more
general obligations regarding technical cooperation in Article 67 of the TRIPSAgreement.
• The assistance provided will focus on key aspects of the TRIPS Notification/Review
process, ranging from substantive problems to the simple technical and procedural aspectsof notification , including, for example, assisting in completing the responses to the
Checklist of Issues on Enforcement contained in document IP/C/5.
• Concerning the least-developed country Members, the Members providing assistance
should aim, to the extent possible, to comme nce the provision of assistance about two
years prior to the date on which a country/economy requesting assistance has to notify its
laws to the TRIPS Council.
• The Members providing assistance may on request make a preliminary visit to the
country/economy requiring assistance.  Such Members would be expected to pay the
return travel costs of their own expert and also pay for the food and accommodationexpenses while their own expert is visiting the country/economy requesting assistance.
• Members wishing to offer expert advice may consider alternative funding sources in order
to carry out their objectives, including funding from other Members.
• Visits to the country/economy requesting assistance are contemplated.  However, in
certain circumstances, technical assistance might be confined to written advice.
• Members who seek assistance are expected to do some preparatory work to ensure as far
as possible that visiting experts can access necessary information in a timely fashion.  The
experts will, through interviews and a paper review, advise on which laws should be
notified and give their opinion on any areas in which the concerned Member's laws may
not meet TRIPS standards.  It would be open to Members to offer to assist in the draftingof legislation, it being understood that there would be no obligation to do so.
• In appropriate cases, visiting experts would also be prepared to participate in seminars
organized by the Member requesting assistance to disseminate information on the TRIPSimplementation process.IP/C/W/241
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• Consideration should be given to possible and reasonable means to promote a consistent
approach to the TRIPS implementation process among experts from different Membersoffering assistance.
• The TRIPS Agreement allows a great deal of flexibility to Members to achieve standards
in ways appropriate to the circumstances of each Member;  therefore no Member
concerned is obliged to implement the advice offered by those who are offering technicalassistance.
• Neither the TRIPS Council nor the visiting experts would be expected to give any
undertakings about the outcome of the TRIPS Review of Members who had benefitedfrom this technical assistance programme.
• The experts may point to sources of further assistance (for example from the WTO,
WIPO or the WCO)  in developing and implementing areas of substantive IP law or
enforcement measures in which weaknesses have been identified.
• Concerning the least-developed country Members, the Member providing assistance is
encouraged to give positive consideration to accepting any request from a recipient
Member to schedule a return visit by the expert or provide written assistance to the
Member concerned about one year before the due date for notification to the TRIPS
Council under Article 63.2 of the TRIPS Agreement.  The purpose is to provide expertassistance on formulating the written notification to the TRIPS Council.
8. Members that have committed themselves to provide assistance under this initiative should
inform the TRIPS Council yearly of the technical assistance provided through this initiative.
9. The purpose of this technical assistance model is to help Members in discharging their
obligations under the TRIPS Review and Notification process.  The overall aim is to optimize the
Review process on behalf of the Member concerned and the TRIPS Council.  However, ultimately the
wishes of Member(s) being reviewed will be respected on the best way to make their notifications.
Implementation
10. The proposal was presented to the TRIPS Council meeting in November 2000 in the form of a
non-paper.  The Council Chairperson noted that there was no objection in the Council to this proposal
for assistance on a voluntary basis and that the sponsors should feel free to proceed.
11. Members who are interested in offering assistance under the scheme are invited  to notify the
TRIPS Council through the Secretariat as soon as possible with a designated contact point.   Such
contact points will be circulated under the notifications of contact points for technical cooperation
under IP/N/7-series.  The Secretariat will circ ulate a list of donor Members in a TRIPS Council
document, with cross-references to the IP/N/7 documents for more details, and issue updates of this
list whenever other donor Members join the scheme.
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