TRIPS AMENDMENT: AUSTRIA'S REACTION

UNCLAS VIENNA 002557 SIPDIS STATE PASS USTR FOR VESPINEL GENEVA FOR USTR E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ECON KIPR AU WTO SUBJECT: TRIPS AMENDMENT: AUSTRIA'S REACTION REF: STATE 138784 ¶1. (SBU) On July 27, we conveyed reftel talking points to Gabriela Habermayer, Head of the Ministry of Economy's Department of Multilateral Trade. We followed up with Habermayer on July 29. Habermayer said that Austria favors re-starting negotiations on a legally binding health amendment to TRIPS because the waiver from 2003 could only be a temporary solution. Habermayer claimed that the Commission's current draft for the TRIPS Council would make the wording of the Chairman's statement legally binding in any future amendment. BROWN#