1. The position to be taken by the European Union within the Council for TRIPS of the World Trade Organisation on the request for an extension of the transition period under paragraph 1 of Article 66 of the TRIPS Agreement for LDCs is that LDCs shall not be required to apply the provisions of the TRIPS Agreement, other than Articles 3, 4 and 5, for a period to be agreed by consensus by WTO members, or until the date on which they cease to be a least-developed country Member, whichever date is earlier.
2. During that extension period, LDCs shall not decrease their existing level of intellectual property protection below the standards set by the TRIPS Agreement. This Decision is without prejudice to the decision of the Council for TRIPS of 27 June 2002 on ‘Extension of the Transition Period under Article 66.1 of the TRIPS Agreement for Least-Developed Country Members for Certain Obligations with Respect to Pharmaceutical Products’.
3. Additionally, during that extension period, proper consideration shall be given to and analysis made of the varying levels of implementation of the TRIPS Agreement and needs identified across LDCs, and how technical assistance and capacity building programmes can be more effectively coordinated, used and assessed, with primary focus on those areas of most immediate utility to enable a gradual integration process.