HC Deb 11 December 2000 vol 359 cc15-6W
Mr. Baker

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what documentation has been prepared by his Department for the TRIPS Council to demonstrate compliance of the United Kingdom intellectual property law with the TRIPS Agreement; what response his Department has received from the TRIPS Council and other bodies to which such documentation was addressed; and if he will place copies of such documentation and responses in the Library. [1420831

Dr. Howells

As required by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement, the United Kingdom notified its main dedicated intellectual property laws and regulations to the WTO. These were published by the WTO during 1996 in documents with the references IP/N/1GBR/1, IP/N/l/GBR/C/1, IP/N/1/GBR/C/2, IP/N/1/GBR/T/1, IP/N/1/GBR/T/2, IP/N/l/GBR/G/1, IP/N/l/GBR/G/2, IP/N/l/GBR/D/1, IP/N/1/GBR/D/2, IP/N/1/GBR/P/1, IP/N/ 1 /GBR/P/2, IP/N/1 /GBR/P/3, IP/N/l/GBR/L/1, IP/N/l/GBR/U/1, IP/N/2/GBR/1 and IP/N/6/GBR/1.

The United Kingdom participated in reviews of developed country WTO Members' TRIPS implementing legislation carried out by the TRIPS Council throughout 1996 and 1997. Records of introductory statement made by the United Kingdom delegation, questions put to the United Kingdom delegation and the responses given were published by the WTO in four documents with references IP/Q/GBR/1, IP/Q2/GBR/1, IP/Q3/GBR/1 and IP/Q4/GBR/1.

All of these documents are available to the public on the WTO website, www.wto.org.