On current January 28 AGEPI took part in the EU-RM Bilateral Technical Meeting on issues of intellectual property rights protection, convened in Brussels by the European Commission. The meeting was chaired by F. Marchal, coordinating sectoral policy, DG RELEX, and D. Chirosca, Director general AGEPI. The meeting was attended also by L. Palii, the representative of the Mission of Moldova to the European Communities, and Pascal Phlix representative European Patent Office (EPO).
During the meeting have been tackled several aspects of the evolution of intellectual property system in Moldova in the context of harmonization of national legislative framework with the EU and the achievement of the scopes related to the intellectual property of the RM-EU Action Plan.
The European Commission received a package of laws in the field of IP, recently entered into force: Law. 50-XVI on protection of inventions, Law. 161 on the protection of industrial designs, Law. 38-XVI on protection of trademarks and Law. 39-XVI on plant variety protection. Special attention was given to trilateral cooperation EU-EPO-RM, negotiations on the enlargement of the European patent on the territory of the Republic of Moldova and signing a bilateral agreement between the Government of Moldova and EPO. In addition to the Law. 66-XVI on protection of geographical indications, appellations of origin and traditional specialties guaranteed, EC representatives have requested information on the progress of EU-RM bilateral dialogue on the appropriateness of signing a bilateral agreement on protection of geographical indications.
A separate issue was the protection of copyright and related rights, with reference to the new law draft that will ensure compliance of the national framework with EU Directives and Regulations. The delegation AGEPI presented the legislative acts that govern today that the priority sector, focusing in particular for improvement existing deficiencies and solutions. We mention the fact that all these moments that find their reflection in the new draft, are already approved by the Government (GD. No. 1362 of December 4, 2008) and sent to the Moldovan Parliament for consideration and adoption.
An attention was given to matters related to enforcement of IP rights in Moldova. In this context, AGEPI delegation presented a detailed information on the legal framework, including measures of civil, criminal and administrative oversight and market control in order to detect cases of violation of rights, confiscation, expertise and destruction of counterfeit and pirated goods, border protection in the light of the latest change in the Customs Code, the judiciary and courts system, in the trial skills litigation involving intellectual property right.
The European part requested also information on programs to promote knowledge of IP and training the national staff in the field, especially for judges, customs officials and police officers. It was an exchange of views on ways to promote the national system of IP in business circles in the EU in order to the rights familiarize holders, residents of the EU with the instruments of protection of the rights provided by RM laws. Representatives of the EC and the EPO expressed their willingness to contribute to this goal by organizing meetings between representatives of Moldova, EC, EPO and business circles in the EU. The first meeting will be held in Brussels on February 20, 2009.
The last matter was focused on technical assistance for eligible Moldova in order to consolidate IP in the system or TWINNING program, funded by the EU, whose launch is planned for the end of 2009.
At the end of the meeting the Moldovan delegation has confirmed the availability of effective collaboration with EC subdivisions, responsible for intellectual property, planning to coordinate developments in the cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of RM and European Integration of Moldova and the EU delegation in Chisinau.