WORLD TRADE IP/C/W/78/Add.1/Suppl.1
15September 1997
ORGANIZATION(97-3656)
Original: English*Council forTrade-Related Aspects
ofIntellectual Property Rights
TECHNICAL COOPERATION ACTIVITIES: INFORMATION FROM
OTHER INTERGOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS
World Intellectual Property Organization
Supplement
Thepresent document reproduces additional information ontechnical andfinancial cooperation
activities relevant totheimplementation oftheTRIPS Agreement, which hasbeenreceived fromthe
World Intellectual Property Organization bymeans ofacommunication dated 4September 1997.
_______________
Further tomyletter toyouof15August 1997, concerning WIPO 'stechnical cooperation
programme, please findattached, aspromised, copies ofdocument AB/XXXI/5 -"Activities from
1January to30June 1997; Interim Financial Statement for1996; Status ofthePayment of
Contributions on1July1997" -inEnglish, French andSpanish
_______________
TheAnnex reproduces paragraphs 900to915oftheaforementioned report, which contain
adescription ofWIPO 'scooperation withtheWTO. Thecomplete report isavailable intheWTO
Secretariat forconsultation byinterested delegations, andontheWIPO website atwww.wipo.int.
*Annex inEnglish, French andSpanishIP/C/W/78/Add.1/Suppl.1
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ANNEX
Cooperation withtheWorld Trade Organization (WTO)
900. During theperiod under review, andpursuant totheWIPO-WTO Agreement which established
cooperation between thetwoOrganizations, theInternational Bureau continued tocarryoutanextensive
program ofdevelopment cooperation forthebenefit ofdeveloping countries, andother cooperation
activities relating totheTRIPS Agreement. Thecooperation development activities were organized
inresponse totherequests andwishes ofthedeveloping countries concerned andtookaccount ofthe
timeframe available tothemformeeting theirobligations under theTRIPS Agreement. Many ofthe
activities wereentirely focused ontheTRIPS Agreement, initstotality orsingling outforexamination
oneormore aspects ofthatAgreement. Thework thatcarried outisdescribed indetail inChapter II
ofthisdocument indicating foreachactivity whether itdealtentirely orpartly withtheobligations
under theTRIPS Agreement.
901. Overall, atotalof111developing countries andthree territories benefited from those WIPO
development cooperation activities which either dealt entirely withtheTRIPS Agreement orhada
component relating tothatAgreement; theywere: ALGERIA, ANGOLA, ANTIGUA AND
BARBUDA,ARGENTINA,BAHAMAS,BAHRAIN,BANGLADESH,BARBADOS,BELIZE,BENIN,
BHUTAN, BOLIVIA, BOTSWANA, BRAZIL, BRUNEI DARUSSALAM, BURKINA FASO,
BURUNDI,CAMBODIA,CAMEROON,CENTRALAFRICANREPUBLIC,CHAD,CHILE,CHINA,
COLOMBIA, CONGO, COSTA RICA, CÔTED'IVOIRE, CUBA, DJIBOUTI, DOMINICA,
DOMINICANREPUBLIC,ECUADOR,EGYPT,ELSALVADOR,GABON,GHANA,GRENADA,
GUATEMALA,GUINEA,GUINEA-BISSAU,GUYANA,HAITI,HONDURAS,INDIA,INDONESIA,
JAMAICA, JORDAN, KENYA, KUWAIT, LAOS, LEBANON, LESOTHO, LIBERIA, LIBYA,
MADAGASCAR, MALAWI, MALAYSIA, MALDIVES, MALI, MAURITANIA, MAURITIUS,
MEXICO,MICRONESIA(FEDERATEDSTATESOF),MONGOLIA,MOROCCO,MOZAMBIQUE,
MYANMAR, NAMIBIA, NEPAL, NICARAGUA, NIGER, NIGERIA, OMAN, PAKISTAN,
PANAMA, PAPUA NEW GUINEA, PARAGUAY, PERU, PHILIPPINES, QATAR, REPUBLIC
OFKOREA, SAINT KITTS AND NEVIS, SAINT LUCIA, SAINT VINCENT AND THE
GRENADINES, SAMOA, SAUDI ARABIA, SENEGAL, SEYCHELLES, SIERRA LEONE,
SINGAPORE, SOLOMON ISLANDS, SOUTH AFRICA, SRILANKA, SUDAN, SURINAME,
SWAZILAND, SYRIA, THAILAND, TOGO, TONGA, TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO, TUNISIA,
UGANDA, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES, URUGUAY, VANUATU, VENEZUELA, VIET NAM,
YEMEN, ZAMBIA, ZIMBABWE, HONG KONG, MACAU, PALESTINIAN NATIONAL
AUTHORITY (PNA).
902. During theperiod under review, legalassistance inrespect oftheimplications oftheTRIPS
Agreement wasprovided byWIPO to28developing countries andonesub-regional group ofdeveloping
countries. Foreightofthesaiddeveloping countries andforthesub-regional group, oneormore draft
lawsordraftrevisions oflawsinvarious areas ofintellectual property wereprepared byWIPO atthe
saidcountries 'request, taking intoaccount theprovisions oftheTRIPS Agreement. Written comments
onthecompatibility ofexisting national legislation withtheTRIPS Agreement weresentbyWIPO,
attheirrequest, to14developing countries. Furthermore, 51seminars orcourses hadprograms which
were either wholly devoted to,ordealt withcertain features of,theTRIPS Agreement. Atotalof
about 3,800 developing country nationals learned about theTRIPS Agreement from those seminars
andcourses, ofwhich about 580hadtheirtravel andliving expenses financed byWIPO.
903. During theperiod under review, WIPO organized fiveregional meetings ontheimplications
oftheTRIPS Agreement: inMarch, inArusha (United Republic ofTanzania), forEnglish-speaking
African countries, inCartagena deIndías (Colombia) forLatin American andCaribbean countries,IP/C/W/78/Add.1/Suppl.1
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andinKuala Lumpur, forAsian andPacific countries; inApril, inCotonou, forFrench-speaking
African countries; andinJune, inAmman, forArab countries. Those fivemeetings wereorganized
intheformofpanel discussions. Toallfivemeetings developing members oftheWTO wereinvited.
904. Also, aninternational forum andaround table, fullydevoted tothesubject oftheimplications
oftheTRIPS Agreement, were organized byWIPO inDaeduk (Republic ofKorea) andSingapore,
respectively, forcountries oftheAsian andPacific region.
905. AnotherfeatureofWIPO-WTOcooperationintheareaofdevelopmentcooperationintheperiod
under review isthatstaffmembers oftheWTO Secretariat wereinvited toseminars andother meetings
organized byWIPO anddealing, ormainly dealing, withtheTRIPS Agreement. Their travel and
living expenses wereborne byWIPO iftheevents wereoutside Geneva. Thus, forexample, inthe
fistsixmonths of1997, WTO officials participated asspeakers insixoftheseven regional meetings
referred toabove.
906. Asconcernsnotificationoflawsandregulations,duringtheperiodunderreview,WIPOcontinued
togivetotheWTO Secretariat, onthelatter'srequest, copies ofintellectual property laws, regulations
and/or translations, where aWTO Member hadstated thetextstobeavailable inthecollection ofWIPO
inthecontext ofanotification under Article 63.2oftheTRIPS Agreement.
907. During thesame period, WIPO received from theWTO Secretariat (mostly intheform of
WTO documents oftheIP/N series), thetextofover200intellectual property lawsandregulations
which hadbeennotified totheWTO Secretariat under Article 63.2oftheTRIPS Agreement byWTO
Members, andintegrated these intoitscollection.
908. During thesame period, WIPO continued tocollect thebibliographic dataoftheintellectual
property lawsandregulations, andtranslations referred toabove andtoenterthesaiddataintoWIPO 's
computerized bibliographic database ofintellectual property legislative texts. Thatdatabase hadbeen
designed anddeveloped byWIPO in1996. AsofJune30,1997, itincluded thebibliographic data
ofover900textsfrom21WTO Members. Thebibliographic dataofanother 200textsfromsixWTO
Members werebeing collected. Thesaiddatabase isexpected tobemade available byWIPO tothe
public, viatheInternet, before theendof1997, andlateronCD-ROMs. Itwilleventually cover all
intellectual property lawsandregulations available inthecollection ofWIPO, whether WTO-notified
ofnot.
909. Also, work continued onthedevelopment ofaWIPO-computerized full-text database of
intellectual property legislative texts, which, inaccordance withtheWIPO-WTO Agreement, shall
beaccessible toWTO Members andnationals ofWTO Members onthesame terms astheyapply to
theMember States ofWIPO, andtonationals oftheMember States ofWIPO.
910. Aspartofthesaiddevelopment, inFebruary, WIPO signed acontract withaprivate company
fortheconversion ofthepaper copy ofthelawsandregulations andtranslations referred toabove
(when inEnglish and/or French and/or Spanish) intomachine-readable format, andthesimultaneous
creation ofhyper-text linkages within andamong texts. AsofJune30,over750textsfrom21WTO
Members (corresponding toover6,500 printed pages) hadbeentransmitted byWIPO tothecontractor
forconversion intomachine-readable format andintegration intotheabove-mentioned full-text database.
Thatdatabase isexpected tobemade available byWIPO tothepublic, viatheInternet, before the
endof1997, andlateronCD-ROMs. Itwilleventually cover allintellectual property lawsand
regulations available inthecollection ofWIPO, whether WTO-notified ornot.
911. Numerous translations ofintellectual property legaltextscontinued tobecarried outbyWIPO,
mainly forthepurpose ofpublication inpaper (legislative inserts ofthemonthly review IndustrialIP/C/W/78/Add.1/Suppl.1
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Property andCopyright/La Propriété industrielle etleDroit d'auteur )andelectronic (the
CD-ROM IPLEX )formats.
912. Asregards State emblems, during thefirstsixmonths of1997, States notparty totheParis
Convention which areWTO Members received fivenewcommunications thatweremade during the
same period tothecountries party totheParis Convention inaccordance withArticle 6terofthat
Convention.
913. Finally, throughout thisreporting period, there werefrequent working contacts between the
International Bureau andtheWTO Secretariat concerning thecooperative activities ofthetwo
Organizations.
914. Astotherepresentation ofWIPO inWTO-organized meetings, thefollowing should benoted:
(i) inFebruary, April andJune, WIPO wasrepresented atthemeetings oftheGeneral
Council oftheWTO, heldinGeneva;
(ii) inFebruary andMay, WIPO wasrepresented atthemeetings oftheCouncil forTRIPS
oftheWTO, heldinGeneva;
(iii) inMarch,25governmentofficialsenrolledinaTradePolicyCourseoftheWTOvisited
WIPOandwerebriefedbyWIPOofficialsonWIPO'sactivitiesandintellectualproperty
ingeneral;
(iv) inJune, 25government officials enrolled inaSpecial Trade-Policy Course forEastern
andCentral European andCentral Asian Countries oftheWTO visited WIPO andwere
briefed onWIPO 'sactivities andintellectual property ingeneral;
(v) alsoinJune, three WIPO officials made presentations ataWTO Workshop onthe
TRIPS Agreement forofficials from theleast developed andother developing
Sub-Saharan African countries.
915. During thereporting period, WTO officials attended meetings organized inGeneva byWIPO
suchas,interalia,sessions oftheGoverning Bodies ofWIPO andtheCommittee ofExperts onthe
Patent LawTreaty.