Does the TRIPS Agreement apply to all WTO members? Back to top

All the WTO agreements (except for a couple of “plurilateral” agreements) apply to all WTO members. The members each accepted all the agreements as a single package with a single signature — making it, in the jargon, a “single undertaking”.

The TRIPS Agreement is part of that package. Therefore it applies to all WTO members. (More on the single undertaking.)

But the agreement allows countries different periods of time to delay applying its provisions. These delays define the transition from before the agreement came into force (before 1 January 1995) until it is applied in member countries. The main transition periods are:

    Developed countries were granted a transition period of one year following the entry into force of the WTO Agreement, i.e. until 1 January 1996.
    Developing countries were allowed a further period of four years (i.e. to 1 January 2000) to apply the provisions of the agreement other than Articles 3, 4 and 5 which deal with general principles such as non-discrimination.
    Transition economies, i.e. members in the process of transformation from centrally-planned into market economies, could also benefit from the same delay (also until 1 January 2000) if they met certain additional conditions.
    Least-developed countries are granted a longer transition period of a total of eleven years (until 1 January 2006), with the possibility of an extension. For pharmaceutical patents, this has been extended to 1 January 2016, under a decision taken by ministers at the Fourth Ministerial Conference in November 2001.


http://www.wto.org/english/trato ... e.htm#Who%27sSigned

3. New Members

The general transitional periods apply to the original members of the WTO, i.e. governments that were members on 1 January 1995. Since the WTO came into being, a number of countries have joined it. These countries have generally agreed in their membership agreements (their “accession protocols”) to apply the TRIPS Agreement from the date when they officially became WTO members, without the benefit of any transition period.

The latest list of countries (and “customs territories”) applying to join the WTO can be found here, as can the list of all WTO members, and their dates of joining the WTO.

see the original file can get valid information.