1.
Laws
and
regulations, and final
judicial decisions and
administrative
rulings of
general application, made effective by a
Member pertaining
to the
subject matter of this
Agreement (the
availability,
scope,
acquisition,
enforcement and
prevention of the
abuse of
intellectual
property rights) shall be
published, or where such
publication is not
practicable made
publicly available, in a
national language, in such
a
manner as to enable
governments and
right holders to become
acquainted with them.
Agreements concerning the
subject matter of
this
Agreement which are in
force between the
government or a
governmental agency of a
Member and the
government or a
governmental
agency of another
Member shall also be
published.
2.
Members
shall notify the
laws and
regulations referred to in paragraph 1
to the
Council for TRIPS in
order to assist that
Council in its
review of the
operation of this
Agreement. The
Council shall
attempt
to minimize the
burden on
Members in carrying out this
obligation and
may
decide to waive the
obligation to notify such
laws and
regulations directly to the
Council if
consultations with
WIPO on the
establishment of a
common register containing these
laws and
regulations are successful. The
Council shall also consider in this
connection any
action required regarding
notifications pursuant to
the
obligations under this
Agreement stemming from the
provisions of
Article 6ter of the
Paris Convention (1967).
3. Each
Member shall be prepared to
supply, in response to a
written request
from another
Member,
information of the sort referred to in paragraph
1. A
Member, having
reason to believe that a
specific judicial
decision or
administrative ruling or
bilateral agreement in the
area
of
intellectual property rights affects its
rights under this
Agreement, may also
request in
writing to be given
access to or be
informed in sufficient
detail of such
specific judicial decisions or
administrative rulings or
bilateral agreements.
4. Nothing
in paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 shall require
Members to disclose
confidential information which would
impede law enforcement or
otherwise be
contrary to the
public interest or would
prejudice the
legitimate commercial interests of particular
enterprises,
public or
private.