Report on the 6th Ministerial Conference of WTO - AIPPI

5. TRIPS AND PUBLIC HEALTH
* See Annexure A to this report with Attachments and Annexes.
In paragraph 40, the Ministerial Declaration adopted in Hong Kong on 18 December 2005 at the
conclusion of the meeting reaffirmed the importance that WTO attaches to the General Council
Decision of 30 August 2003 on the implementation of Paragraph 6 of the Doha Declaration, and
welcomed the consequential amendment of TRIPS as agreed by the General Council on 6 December
2005.
The amendment was presented in the form of a bundle of documents (attached to this report as
Annexure A) and comprising :
• the Decision to amend the TRIPS agreement;
• the Protocol amending the TRIPS agreement;
• the Annex to the Protocol setting out the new Article 31bis to be inserted into the TRIPS
agreement;
• the Annex to the TRIPS Agreement setting out definitions and requirements for using the
mechanism of Article 31bis;
• the Appendix to the Annex prescribing the determination of manufacturing capacity;
• the Chairman’s statement; and
• the Attachment setting out “Best Practices” guidelines.
Although consensus on the amendment was achieved in the General Council, procedurally the
Amendment Protocol adopted by the General Council has to be submitted to Members for
acceptance. The Protocol shall be open for acceptance until 1 December 2007 (or such later date as
may be decided by a Ministerial Conference). The amendment takes effect once it is accepted by
two-thirds of the Members (in terms of Article X.3 of the WTO Agreement).
Until such time as the amendment takes affect, the waiver in terms of the 30 August 2003 Decision
will remain operative. This is significant since, in the meanwhile, the Chairman’s Statement which
accompanied the 30 August 2003 Decision would remain relevant for interpreting the Decision.
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