{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/eu-decision-2013-285/introduction",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/eu-decision-2013-285/introduction.json",
  "legislation": "eudn/2013/285",
  "legislation_title": "Council Decision of 10 June 2013 establishing the European Union position 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 least-developed country Members (2013/285/EU)",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/eu-decision-2013-285",
  "path": "introduction",
  "kind": "introduction",
  "number": null,
  "heading": "Introductory text",
  "text": "Council Decision\nof 10 June 2013\nestablishing the European Union position 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 least-developed country Members\n(2013/285/EU)\nTHE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,\nHaving regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and in particular Article 207(4) and Article 218(9) thereof,\nHaving regard to the proposal from the European Commission,\nWhereas:\n(1)\nOn 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.\n(2)\nThe 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.\n(3)\nParagraph 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’.\n(4)\nThe 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.\n(5)\nLDCs have progressed at different paces and to different extents in their implementation of the TRIPS Agreement.\n(6)\nTechnical and financial assistance, its efficiency and proper coordination, plays an important role in implementation of the TRIPS Agreement.\n(7)\nValuable 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.\n(8)\nAccordingly, it is necessary to extend the transition period for implementation of the TRIPS Agreement for LDCs,\nHAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:",
  "extent": "E+W+S+N.I.",
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [],
  "outstanding_effects": [],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eudn/2013/285/introduction",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-11-01T15:15:04.392058+00:00"
  },
  "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
}