Bridges Weekly Trade News Digest • Volume 8 • Number 39 • 17th November 2004
EU Commission Adopts New IP Strategy
SOUTH-SOUTH TRADE ROUND TAKING SHAPE
Informal meetings of two negotiating groups under the Global System of Trade Preferences Among Developing Countries (GSTP) — focusing on market access and rule making — are ongoing following a 19 October meeting that decided on the organisation of work for the third round of GSTP negotiations. The round was launched at UNCTAD XI in Sao Paolo in May 2004 (see BRIDGES Weekly, 23 June 2004). The two negotiating groups are doing groundwork on technicalities in informal meetings, with a view to developing full fledged negotiating plans in their respective areas of responsibility. The GSTP Committee of Participants and the Negotiating Committee are expected to meet in early December to review progress of work carried out by the two negotiating groups. Substantive work is set to begin early next year in order to meet the November 2006 deadline for concluding the Sao Paulo Round.
The GSTP was established in 1989 following an initiative at the 1976 ministerial meeting of the Group of 77 developing countries in Mexico City. It serves as a framework for the exchange of trade preferences, including tariff and potentially non-tariff concessions, among developing countries to promote south-south trade. There are currently 44 participants in the GSTP, whose mutual trade was estimated at close to US$2 trillion in 2000. Approximately 900 products in total are covered by the tariff schedules of the individual GSTP participants and the simple average margin of preference was about 28 percent.
ICTSD Reporting; "Global System of Trade Preferences," UNCTAD, 16 June 2004; "GSTP For Enhancing South-South Trade," BHAGIRATH LAL DAS, 11 June 2004; "GSTP negotiations to be launched at Sao Paulo," SOUTH-NORTH DEVELOPMENT MONITOR, 1 June 2004.
On 10 November, the European Commission adopted a strategy to curb violations of intellectual property rights in third world countries. According to EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy, "adopting new legislation on intellectual property is one thing. But devising the right tools to enforce it is another. This is now our priority." The EC plans to identify countries where intellectual property (IP) enforcement is lacking, and will attempt to provide technical assistance focused on protection of IP to all countries. In addition, violators of European IP will be subjected to possible bilateral and multilateral economic sanctions. Lamy stressed that, "fakes, like pharmaceuticals and foodstuffs, constitute an outright danger to the public, while others undermine the survival of the EU’s most innovative sectors, confronted with the misappropriation of their creations." He further indicated that the new strategy not only protects IP owners but also citizens who may use dangerous imitation products. According to the EC, the purpose of the new IP strategy is not to create new IP regulations, but rather to enforce IP legislation already agreed to in the WTO, or in multilateral or bilateral agreements. Within this new strategy, the Commission outlined the following goals: identification of priority countries; cultivation of awareness regarding IP laws in third world countries; ensuring the exchange of ideas with other leading IP producers; providing technical assistance to poorer nations focused on enforcement; raising enforcement concerns in WTO, multi and bilateral agreements; making use of dispute settlement; and encouraging public-private partnerships.
"EU strengthens fight against piracy and counterfeiting beyond its borders," EC RELEASE, 10 November 2004.