On 5 November 2012 Haiti, on behalf of the least-developed country Members (LDCs) group, formally requested an extension to the transition period for the implementation of the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (the TRIPS Agreement), pursuant to paragraph 1 of Article 66 of that Agreement.

The existing transition period, as agreed in the decision of the Council for TRIPS of 29 November 2005 was due to expire on 1 July 2013.

Paragraph 1 of Article 66 of the TRIPS Agreement provides that the Council for TRIPS ‘shall, upon duly motivated request by a least-developed country Member, accord extensions of this period’.

The leveraging and protection of intellectual property is a key factor in promoting socioeconomic growth, as recognised by ministers at the Regional Preparatory Meeting for Africa in Dar es Salaam in March 2013 ahead of the Annual Ministerial Review of the United Nations Economic and Social Council, which called for the redoubling of efforts to develop a legal and policy framework for e.g. intellectual property.

LDCs have progressed at different paces and to different extents in their implementation of the TRIPS Agreement.

Technical and financial assistance, its efficiency and proper coordination, plays an important role in implementation of the TRIPS Agreement.

Valuable steps have already been taken in the field of intellectual property by a number of LDCs, but it remains the case that LDCs have special needs and requirements and continue to face economic, financial and administrative constraints, therefore they need flexibility and further time to implement the TRIPS Agreement.

Accordingly, it is necessary to extend the transition period for implementation of the TRIPS Agreement for LDCs,