WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONIP/C/W/406
23 October 2003
(03-5591)
Council for Trade-Related Aspects
of Intellectual Property Rights
WTO SECRETARIAT TECHNICAL COOPERATION IN THE TRIPS AREA
Note by the Secretariat
1. This document updates the information on the WTO Secretariat's technical cooperation
activities in regard to TRIPS matters contained in document IP/C/W/375, dated 12 September 2002.
It covers the period from 13 September 2002 to 31 October 2003.  It deals both with the Secretariat's
technical activities that specifically relate to intellectual property and with those of a broader character
which have a significant intellectual property component.
Main Orientations
2. The Secretariat's technical cooperation activities in relation to TRIPS have continued to be
directed towards assisting Members to understand the rights and obligations, including the available
options, which flow from the TRIPS Agreement.  This has been particularly the case for the
least-developed country Members whose transition period has yet to expire.  This activity includes
helping Members to assess the amendments that may be needed to their national legislation, the
adaptations in institutions that may be called for and other requirements for which they would need to
plan.  The Secretariat's technical cooperation activities in the TRIPS area have also been aimed at
assisting Members to participate fully in the work of the TRIPS Council.  This has included assisting
Members to use the mechanisms under the TRIPS Agreement, such as in regard to notifications and
reviews of national legislation.  It has also been aimed at assisting Members to assess what is at stake
for them in issues under negotiation, examinati on or review in the TRIPS Council and thus to
participate in this work.
3. The technical cooperation made available has been essentially driven by demand from
Members.  The Secretariat has also provided assi stance to countries seeking to join the WTO by
helping them to prepare for the accession process and by training officials.  Priority continues to be
attached to assistance to least-developed countries.  Importance has been attached to ensuringcomplementarity and cooperation with other intergovernmental organizations, in particular WIPO.
The main modes of supply of technical cooperation specifically relating to the TRIPS Agreement
have been information and advice given to Members in Geneva and study programmes, training
courses, seminars and workshops for developing countries in Geneva and elsewhere.  The extent to
which requests for assistance could be responded to has been constrained by the substantial increasein the workload of the TRIPS Council in Geneva in recent years (for example, measured by pages of
minutes, this workload has increased some seven-fold between 1998 and 2002).This document has been prepared under the Secretariat's own
responsibility and without prejudice to the positions of Members
and to their rights and obligations under the WTO.IP/C/W/406
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Information and Advice Given to Members in Geneva
4. A significant part of the work of Secretariat officials dealing with intellectual property matters
has been concerned with providing information in response to questions put to them by
representatives of Member governments, e.g. notification and review procedures, the meaning of
particular provisions of the TRIPS Agreement, the options available under these provisions andmatters under discussion or negotiation in the TRIPS Council.  Matters have been raised with the
Secretariat not only by local delegations but also by visiting intellectual property officials and as a
result of direct contacts from officials in capitals by telephone or in written form on issues such as
domestic draft legislation or the ongoing work and negotiations in the TRIPS Council  Advice and
information has also been given to officials from acceding countries and representatives of the private
sector.
Seminars, Workshops, Training Courses and Other Technical Cooperation Activities
In Geneva
4. A feature of the year under review has been the further growth of resources devoted to
treating TRIPS issues in the context of broader training courses, seminars and workshops held in
Geneva.  For example, the five long WTO Trade Policy Courses, the Introduction Course for LDCs
and the Pre-Cancún WTO Course for French-Speaking African Countries, the two "Geneva Weeks"for Non-Residents, the WTO Briefing for High-Level  Officials from LDCs and other events held in
Geneva included presentations on the TRIPS Agreement and the ongoing work and negotiations in the
TRIPS area.   The long Trade Policy Courses held in Geneva during the reporting period also included
a day at WIPO, learning about that Organization, its conventions and activities.  In addition, the
Secretariat organized a number of special study programmes for individual countries or groups of
countries in Geneva, and provided speakers or briefings for a number of seminars and training
programmes organized in Gene va by others, notably WIPO.
5.  During the reporting period, Secretariat officials dealing with intellectual property also
participated in several video-conferences organized by the WTO Secretariat or co-organized with
other intergovernmental organizations and/or universities.
Outside Geneva
6. Another important part of the work of the Secretariat officials dealing with intellectual
property matters has been the organization of, or participation in, international, regional and national
seminars, workshops and other events outside Geneva.  While some of these events have been
devoted, in whole or in large part, to the TRIPS Agreement or to a specific aspect of the Agreement,
one of the features of activities during the reporting period has been the increasing number of broader
events outside Geneva which have included a significant TRIPS component, e.g. the AdvancedTraining Courses on the Doha Development Age nda, organized by the WTO Secretariat, or co-
organized with other intergovernmental organizations and/or universities.  The Annex to this
document lists the technical cooperation missions outside Geneva in which intellectual property staff
participated.  Six of them fall into the first ca tegory mentioned above and the remainder into the
second category.IP/C/W/406
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Cooperation with WIPO and Other Intergovernmental Organizations
7. As indicated in this note and earlier reports submitted to the Council for TRIPS, cooperation
with WIPO has been a key feature of WTO Secretar iat technical cooperation in the TRIPS area.  This
has been based on the Cooperation Agreement between the two Organizations, Article 4 of whichdeals with legal-technical assistance and technical cooperation.
1  Since the Agreement was concluded,
there has been intensive cooperation between the two Organizations on technical cooperation matters,
which has been regularly reported to the Council.2
8.  The WIPO-WTO Joint Initiative on Technical Cooperation for Least-Developed Countries,
launched in June 2001, is aimed at helping least-developed country Members of the WTO comply
with their obligations under the TRIPS Agreement and make best use of the intellectual property
system for their economic, social and cultural development.  It is also open to other least-developedcountries.  Under the Joint Initiative, the two Or ganizations, together with countries requesting
assistance, and, where appropriate, donor countries, are endeavouring to ensure that technical
cooperation activities are efficiently planned and coordinated and to maximize the use of available
resources in carrying them out.  Pursuant to the Join t Initiative, the International Bureau of WIPO and
the WTO Secretariat organized the second regional seminar foreseen by it.  The seminar was held, incooperation with the Government of Bangladesh, at Dhaka in December 2002 for least-developed
countries in Asia and the Pacific.  Requests for technical assistance by individual WTO Members are
being received by both secretariats, which are coordinating their efforts with a view to responding to
these requests.  In response to these requests, the two secretariats jointly organized national seminars
in Benin and Mali in March 2003.  We are planning to hold such seminars in Chad, Djibouti, Ethiopiaand Uganda before the end of this year and in Niger, Senegal and Zambia in the first part of next year.
9. The WTO Secretariat has also cooperated in the provision of technical cooperation in the area
of TRIPS with other intergovernmental organiza tions, as can be seen from the Annex to this
document.
                                                     
1 The Agreement Between the World Intellectual Property Organization and the World Trade
Organization came into effect on 1 January 1996.  Article 4 of the Agreement provides for the InternationalBureau of WIPO to make available to developing country WTO Members which are not Members of WIPO thesame legal-technical assistance relating to the TRIPS Agreement as it makes available to Member States of
WIPO which are developing countries.  The WTO Secretar iat is required to reciprocate.  The Agreement also
provides for the International Bureau and the WTO Secretariat to enhance cooperation in their legal-technicalassistance and technical cooperation activities relating to the TRIPS Agreement for developing countries, so asto maximize the usefulness of those activities and ensure their mutually supportive nature.
2 See documents IP/C/W/375, 304, 201,156, 110, 79 and 36.IP/C/W/406
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ANNEX
Technical Cooperation Missions in the TRIPS Area from 13 September 2002 to 31 October 2003
Date Place Mission
26-28 November 2002 Moscow, Russian
FederationUNECE Seminar on IPR Enforcement for the
Russian Judiciary and Enforcement Officials
11-14 December 2002 Dhaka, Bangladesh WIPO-WTO Regional Workshop on
Implementation of the Agreement on Trade-
Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights(TRIPS Agreement)
26 January 2003 Cairo, Egypt Cairo Training Programme on the Doha
Development Agenda - Enhancing the
Participation of Arab Countries in the Multilateral
Trading System
18-19 March 2003 Cotonou, Benin WIPO-WTO Joint National Seminar on TRIPS
24-25 March 2003 Bamako, Mali WIPO-WTO Joint National Seminar on TRIPS
28 April-7 May 2003 Tunis, Tunisia WTO National Trade Policy Course
12-30 May 2003 Sydney, Australia WTO-IDLO  (International Law Development
Organization) Trade Training Capacity BuildingWorkshop
7 April-27 June 2003 Nairobi, Kenya 2
nd WTO Trade Policy Course in Nairobi
16-27 June 2003 Johannesburg, South
AfricaWTO Advanced Training Programme on the Doha
Development Agenda for English-Speaking
African Countries
16-27 June 2003  Barbados Advanced Training Course for Government
Officials -  "Multilateral and Regional Trade Issues
for the Americas: The Doha Development Agenda
and the FTAA Process" (Organization of
American States, WTO and University of the West
Indies)
30 June-11 July 2003 Tbilissi, Georgia WTO Advanced Training Programme for Senior
Government Officials on the Doha Development
Agenda
8-11 July 2003 Lima, Peru LatinPharma 2003 (ITC-UNCTAD-WTO)
28 June-16 July 2003 Jeddah, Saudi Arabia IDB/WTO Short Trade Policy Course for OIC
(Organization of Islamic Conference) MembersIP/C/W/406
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Date Place Mission
15-16 September 2003 Zhejiang Province,
ChinaTraining Workshop on Intellectual Property Rights
Compliance and Quality Brand Development
Strategy (MOFCOM and UNDP)
13-24 October 2003 Accra, Ghana Second WTO-ADB-ECA Trade Policy Course for
African Countries
30 October 2003 Montevideo,
UruguayThird Short Trade Policy Course for ALADI
Member Countries (Asociación Latinoamericana
de Integración)
27 October-1 November
2003Beijing, China WTO/UNESCAP/MOFCOM/PKU Advanced
Course for Asian and Pacific Senior Government
Officials - The Doha Development Agenda:Enhancing the Participation of  Asian and Pacific
Economies in the Multilateral Trading System;
Discussions of WTO Trade Negotiation Issues
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