HC Deb 18 July 2000 vol 354 cc108-9W
Mr. Baker

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1) what documentation has been prepared by his Department for the TRIPS Council to demonstrate compliance of the United Kingdom's intellectual property law with the TRIPS Agreement which incorporates Article 10bis of the Paris Convention; what response his Department has received from the TRIPS Council; and if he will place a copy of both the document and response in the Library; [130410]

(2) what discussions his officials have had with the TRIPS Council regarding the compliance of the United Kingdom's intellectual property law with the TRIPS Agreement that incorporates Article 10bis of the Paris Convention. [130411]

Dr. Howells

As required by the World Trade Organization (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/l/GBR/1, IP/N/l/GBR/C/1, IP/N/1/GBR/C/2, IP/N/l/GBR/T/1, IP/N/1/GBR/T/2, IP/N/1/GBR/G/1, IP/N/1/GBR/G/2, IP/N/1/GBR/D/1, IP/N/1/GBR/D/2, IP/N/1/GBR/P/1, IP/N/1/GBR/P/2, IP/N/l/GBR/P/3, IP/N/1/GBR/L/1, IP/N/1/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 statements 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.