The note provides some preliminary observations on the draft Ministerial Declaration and draft Implementation Decision, as they relate to issues of intellectual property and the TRIPS Agreement. Both drafts raise concerns from a developing country perspective, and fail to adequately address a number of issues raised by developing countries in the TRIPS Council.
Furthermore, the drafts fail to reflect the many developing country contributions and proposals, and ignore the overarching need to re-balance the TRIPS Agreement. The text below deals first with the Ministerial Declaration, then with the Implementation Decision.