EU, China hold high-level forum on IPR protection

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-03-07 00:23

BRUSSELS -- High level officials from China and the European Union (EU) held a forum here on Friday on protection of intellectual property rights (IPR), vowing further cooperation and dialogue in this area.

Chong Quan, assistant minister of the Ministry of Commerce of China, briefed participants about China's efforts in recent years and achievements made in IPR protection.

"The Chinese government has always attached great importance to IPR protection, and China has been building an innovation-oriented country as a national development strategy," Chong told a press conference after the forum.

"In the framework of its national strategy on intellectual property, China is accelerating its efforts toward improving the protection of intellectual property and the enforcement of intellectual property rights," he said.

Chong said that in the three years from 2006 to 2008, China enacted action plans to protect intellectual property rights, implementing 717 specific measures in 10 areas, including legislation, law enforcement, services, publicity and education.

Considerable progress in protecting intellectual property rights have been made during the 30 years of reform and opening up, he said.

Last year, the Chinese government promulgated the "Outline of National Intellectual Property Strategy," lifting the IPR work to a level of national strategy, he said.

As bilateral cooperation in IPR protection has achieved fruitful results, China hoped for more exchanges and cooperation in this field with the European Union, he said.

Earlier this week, a pilot initiative supporting mediation between Chinese and European companies at trade fairs was launched within the framework of the EU-China intellectual property rights protection.

"This is a noteworthy example of the excellent cooperation between China and Europe, leading to real benefits for industry," Chong said.

He stressed that IPR protection is advantageous to China's own development needs as IPR has played a more and more prominent role in China's sustained and rapid economic and social development.

"Protection of intellectual property rights are not only improving the investment environment, enhancing the level of opening up, but also enhancing the capability of independent innovation," he said.

Chong expressed the hope that the EU provides China more help and support on capacity-building concerning IPR protection.

Describing IPR protection as a global issue, Chong said the work could not be done well without international cooperation.

Especially in the current global financial crisis, China and the EU need to help each other and work together to overcome challenges, he said, pledging that China is willing to work with the EU to continue to strengthen cooperation in IPR protection to create a good environment for trade and economic development.

Peter Balas, deputy director-general of the European Commission's DG Trade, appreciated efforts and progress the Chinese government has made in IPR protection, urging for more attention be paid to the protection and enforcement of IPR for European and Chinese industry.

"With progress being made in China, this process must continue to strengthen enforcement and enhance an innovation-friendly environment," he said.

"The results of a joint cooperation will contribute to achieving this shared objective," Balas said.

The current EU-China IPR protection project, known as the EU-China IPR2 Project, was launched in 2007 by the Chinese government and the European Commission, aimed at improving the effectiveness of IPR enforcement in China.

Based on the success of IPR1 from 1999-2004, which promoted international standards of IPR protection in Chinese legislation, IPR2 targets the reliability, efficiency and accessibility of the IPR protection system in China.