From 11 to 14 July 2016, Director General of the State Agency on Intellectual Property (AGEPI) participated in the “Intellectual Property Week for Managers of IP Offices”. The event was organized by the European Patent Office (EPO) in cooperation with the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) in Munich, Germany.

During the meeting were discussed several topical issues such as development of communication policies and strategies of the business-oriented IP offices, increase in the efficiency and effectiveness of the offices’ activity; support of national development objectives, implementation of creative and intellectual potential, thereby contributing to the economic, cultural and social development of countries.

Participants also had the opportunity to familiarize themselves with various aspects of the application of European standards in terms of trademark and design, new tools to counter piracy and counterfeiting, and the role of the EU Observatory on Intellectual Property in securing and enforcement of IP.

In the context of the visit to Munich, on July 12, Octavian Apostol attended a Bilateral Meeting at the AGEPI and EPO management level, in which was discussed the current stage of cooperation between the two institutions and was signed the AGEPI-OEB Joint Action Program for the years 2016-2017.

The document comes to complement and contribute to the implementation of the Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Moldova and the European Patent Organization on Validation of European Patents, signed in Munich on 16 October 2013 and entered into force on November 1, 2015.

Also during the meeting, AGEPI Director General also discussed the request to become a member of the Administrative Council of the EPO.

Entry into force of the Agreement between the Government of RM and the EPO on Validation of European Patents in the Republic of Moldova is an important step towards the achievement of the goal of accession of our country to the European Patent Organization and a prerequisite for Moldova’s integration into the family of European states.

It should be noted that the State Agency on Intellectual Property has no arrears in implementing the National Action Plan on the Republic of Moldova - European Union Association Agreement in the period 2014-2016.

At present, AGEPI has two draft legislative acts under the National Action Plan for the implementation of the RM-EU Association Agreement for the years 2014-2016, which is at the stage of adoption by the Parliament. It is about the Draft Law Amending and Supplementing Certain Legislative Acts, namely the Law No. 1456-XII of 25 May 1993 on Pharmaceutical Activity, Law No. 1409-XIII of 17 December 1997 on Medicines and Law No. 119-XV of 22 April 2004 on Phytosanitary Products and Fertilizers and the Draft Law Amending and Supplementing Law No. 139 of 02.07.2010 on Copyright and Related Rights.

During the Government meeting held on 13 July 2016 it was created confusion and AGEPI was covered in the Chapter on arrears of quarterly reporting on the margins of the National Action Plan.

As a public institution responsible for the implementation of measures relating to the field of intellectual property, included in Title V of the Association Agreement, AGEPI, within the limits of its competences, aims regularly at observing the terms of realization of these measures and has no arrears in this chapter, reporting quarterly to the authorized institutions about the stage of their realization.

AGEPI has as its priority objective the integration of the national intellectual property system into the international and European one.

At the moment of Moldova’s entry into the family of European states, AGEPI will be fully integrated into the European intellectual property system, ensuring an effective level of protection of intellectual property rights similar to the European one.