INTRODUCTION

On 28 April 1997, the European Communities and their member States requested India to hold consultations pursuant to Article 4 of the Understanding on Rules and Procedures Governing the Settlement of Disputes (DSU) and Article 64 of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) regarding the absence in India of either patent protection for pharmaceutical and agricultural chemical products or formal systems that permit the filing of patent applications for pharmaceutical and agricultural chemical products and that provide for the grant of exclusive marketing rights for such products (WT/DS79/1). No mutually satisfactory solution was reached in these consultations, held on 14 May 1997. The European Communities and their member States requested the Dispute Settlement Body (DSB), in a communication dated 9 September 1997, to establish a panel to examine the matter (WT/DS79/2). At its (see note)meeting of 16 October 1997, the DSB agreed to establish a panel with standard terms of reference in accordance with Article 6 of the DSU. The United States reserved third party rights.

In document WT/DS79/3 of 27 November 1997, the DSB was informed of the terms of reference and the composition of the Panel. Due to the absence of agreement between the parties to the dispute on the composition of the Panel, the composition of the Panel was determined by the Director-General pursuant to Article 8.7 of the DSU. Informing the parties to the dispute that he had determined the composition of the Panel pursuant to Article 10.4 of the DSU, taking into account the fact that the European Communities and their member States had been a third party to the panel proceeding on “India - Patent Protection for Pharmaceutical and Agricultural Chemical Products” (WT/DS50 - complaint by the United States) and the measures at issue in the present dispute had already been the subject of the earlier proceeding, the Director-General appointed the same Panel members as in the earlier dispute (with the exception of the chairman of the original panel who was no longer available).