China and the European Union (EU) expect to co-operate more to protect intellectual property rights (IPR) in future after achieving good results under a seven-year joint programme.

The EU-China IPR co-operation programme, which started in 1998 and will conclude early next year, aims to facilitate China's trade with the EU by helping it develop a modern and effective system to protect IPR.

Ingo Kober, president of the European Patent Office, said at an IPR symposium which opened yesterday in Beijing that the partnership had been a valuable one.

"The success of this programme represents a landmark in the history of co-operation between China, the European Union and the European Patent Office in the field of IPR protection," he said.

The symposium, which has brought together 300 specialists from Europe and China, marks the final phase of the current programme.

But Kober said the European Patent Office will continue to help China's State Intellectual Property Office further develop IPR in China.

Paul Vandoren, director-general for trade with the European Commission, said his commission and China's Ministry of Commerce are discussing a plan to further co-operate on IPR.

Vandoren said China has come a long way towards its goal of building an IPR system.

But more needs to be done to enforce the law and make the public aware of IPR protection.

Wang Jingchuan, commissioner of the State Intellectual Property Office, said China has revised hundreds of articles on IPR laws or regulations to meet World Trade Organization (WTO) requirements.

China became a member of the WTO in 2001.

"Last year, experts from the United States and Europe commented positively on China's IPR legal documents and actions after we promised to abide by the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS)," said Wang.

He said his office is busy revising regulations to better protect innovations. The work has been listed as an important programme by the Legislative Affairs Office of the State Council.

Vice-minister of commerce Liao Xiaoqi said China has intensified IPR enforcement over the past two years.

Regional IPR administrations have abandoned local protectionism and set up several cross-province IPR enforcement agencies, he added.

The level of IPR protection has become important to a nation's investment climate as well as the competitiveness of products in world trade markets, said Liao.

According to Kober, foreign direct investment in China has reached new peaks - it totalled US$53 billion in 2002 and looks likely to rise to US$57 billion this year.

" ...This fact is a useful guide for assessing the value of the EU-China IPR co-operation project," he said.

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