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Initially, the review exercise focused on those WTO
Members who no longer benefit from a transition period, i.e.
the developed countries.The
Council started reviews in July 1996 with an examination
of the legislation of developed country Members in the
area of copyright and related rights.
It
continued in November 1996 with the legislation in the
areas of trademarks, geographical indications and
industrial designs, and in May 1997 with the legislation
in the areas of patents, layout-designs of integrated
circuits, undisclosed information and the control of
anti-competitive practices in contractual licences.
Legislation in the area of enforcement is scheduled for
review in the third week of November 1997.
In
2000 reviews began for countries that had delayed
notifying their laws until 2000. This set of reviews are
taking place in 2000 and 2001. The countries concerned
are the following, although many of these members put
into effect national legislation to implement much of the
TRIPS Agreement before 1 January 2000:
Antigua and
Barbuda, Argentina, Bahrain, Barbados, Belize, Bolivia,
Botswana, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Cameroon, Chile,
Colombia, Congo, Costa Rica, Côte d’Ivoire, Cuba,
Cyprus, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Egypt, El Salvador,
Estonia, Fiji, Gabon, Ghana, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana,
Honduras, Hong Kong, China, India, Indonesia, Israel,
Jamaica, Kenya, Korea, Kuwait, Macau, Malaysia, Malta,
Mauritius, Mexico, Morocco, Namibia, Nicaragua, Nigeria,
Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines,
Poland (areas for which not reviewed in
‘96–’98), Qatar, Saint Lucia, Senegal,
Singapore, Sri Lanka, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Vincent
and Grenadines, Suriname, Swaziland, Thailand, Trinidad
and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates,
Uruguay, Venezuela, Zimbabwe
The
procedures for these reviews provide for written
questions and replies prior to the review meeting, with
follow-up questions and replies during the course of the
meeting. At subsequent meetings of the Council, an
opportunity is given to follow up points emerging from
the review session which delegations consider have not
been adequately addressed.
The
record of the introductory statements made by
delegations, the questions put to them and the responses
given in the reviews in these four areas are being or
will be circulated, respectively, in the IP/Q/, IP/Q2/,
IP/Q3/ and IP/Q4/ series of documents. These documents
are initially circulated on a restricted basis, and
generally considered for derestriction six months after
the date of their circulation, after which they are made
available in the the
WTO on-line document database.
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