FADE IN
Act 1
INT. STUDY - 09:45
Following a Zoom conference with his iPad Mini, PETER hears: WTO Ministerial Conference and Decision...in June 2022.
PETER (V.O.): I've lost touch with WTO developments.
We see on screen a slide: Ministerial Decision...waives Art 31/31 bis so as to allow easier access to imported medicine.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Sounds familiar. There was the WTO-Doha Declaration on TRIPS Agreement and Public Health 2001.
Recalling.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): In 2005, the TRIPS Protocol gave legal effect to that. Hong Kong, China, stated that if it used the system as an importer, it would be for emergencies.
We hear from screen: China has made a binding commitment not to avail itself of the WTO Ministerial Decision on the TRIPS Agreement...and that is recorded as Footnote 1.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Footnote 1?
Peter is in deep thoughts.
Act 2
FLASHBACK
INT. PETER'S HK HOME - (1985)
Peter (31) is looking at new books in a bookshelf.
PETER (V.O.): I've begun reading my LLM (Lond) as an external student. I want to teach myself International Law.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): The papers I've to pass in 1986 are: (1) Legal Theory and Jurisprudence, (2) Methods and Sources of International Law, (3) Law of Treaties, and (4) International Protection of Human Rights.
Picking out a book entitled "Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties 1969" by Ian Sinclair, Peter reads a section on "use of terms".
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): "Treaty" means an international agreement concluded between States in written form and governed by international law, whether embodied in a single instrument or in two or more instruments and whatever its particular designation.
Thinking.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): It's the substance rather than the form that matters.
Reading the foot of the page, Peter sees the footnote: Article 1(a) of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties 1969.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Footnotes won't disrupt the flow of the main text.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Are there footnotes in treaties? I don't seem to come across any.
Thinking.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): If there're agreed footnotes in treaties, I don't see any legal reason to ignore them or to attach lesser weight to them.
Thinking.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): For the avoidance of doubt, contracting parties can also manifest their intention.
END FLASHBACK
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Although not sovereign, Hong Kong, as a separate customs territory, became a GATT Member in 1986 and a founding WTO Member in 1995.
Recalling.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): When my colleagues and I represented Hong Kong in GATT, and later WTO, processes, we just did it.
Recalling.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): But when I represented Hong Kong in the WIPO processes, I was a UK delegate before July 1 1997, and a China delegate after that.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): So Hong Kong has always been relatively active at the WTO. I was a WTO Dispute Settlement Panelist.
Peter looks at the presenters on screen from time to time.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Some of them are young and bright.
FLASHBACK
INT. ATTORNEY GENERAL'S CHAMBERS - DAY (1991)
Holding a fax from Geneva, a COLLEAGUE shows it to Peter (37).
COLLEAGUE: Is the substance and presentation of this agreeable to you?
We see the content of the fax: Footnote 1: When "nationals" are referred to this Agreement, they shall be deemed, in the case of a separate customs territory Member of the WTO, to mean persons, natural or legal, who are domiciled or who have a real and effective industrial or commercial establishment in that customs territory.
PETER: Yes. That's what I suggested earlier.
RETURN TO PRESENT
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): When the TRIPS Agreement was signed on April 15, 1994, the content of Footnote 1 remained intact. And that was some 28 years ago.
Act 3
INT. STUDY - 15:45
Peter picks up a red book "TRIPS Agreement" 1994.
PETER (V.O.): All the IP laws that I designed for Hong Kong are consistent with, if not above, the TRIPS Agreement standards.
Turning to the Footnote 1 of Article 1 of the TRIPS Agreement, Peter sees his signature against it.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Yes! If one reads Footnote 1 thoughtfully, one can infer the concern of a "separate customs territory member". When I initiated it, China wasn't a WTO Member yet. Now it has got its special Footnote 1.
We see in footnote 1: [WIPO note: the numbered footnotes constitute part of the text of the TRIPS Agreement].
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): There's no doubt about the legality of footnoting anymore.
Reflecting.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): I'm content to be just a footnote in the evolving international IP system.
Later, the Zoom conference ends.
THE END
FADE OUT
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