The progress, challenges and future plans of the EU Project ”Support to Enforcement of the Intellectual Property Rights” in the Republic of Moldova were discussed on June, 28, at the sixth meeting of the Steering Committee. The event was attended by representatives of the co-beneficiary authorities, the Delegation of the European Union to the Republic of Moldova, the project consortium and the team of experts responsible for implementation of the Project.
Mr. Andrei Popa, the Deputy Director of AGEPI thanked the project for their support, stating the results are visible. With the assistance of the EU Project, dozens of seminars and workshops for hundreds of representatives of public institutions had been organized. In addition, a useful and highly awaited tool for the public institutions with competencies on intellectual property rights is the IT system, developed by the project, which will be launch in November.
The Team Leader of the project, Maximilian Foedinger, together with the Deputy Team Leader, Kenny Wright and the experts Yuriy Kapitsa and Alex Josifoski presented a summary of the activities carried out in the period between November 2017 and May 2018 and then revealed which activities will be implemented between May 2018 and November 2018.
In order to improve the enforcement of Intellectual Property (IP) rights in Moldova, the Project has implemented a series of activities such as seminars, workshops and the preparation of guides for the Agency for Consumer Protection, Customs Service, police and prosecutors. Also, the Project has organised multiple national and international events, such as the International Innovation Conference, the Forum for Creative Industries, a Regional Seminar in the context of World Anti-Counterfeiting Day, the "AGEPI Readings" Symposium and the launch of the Stop-Piracy Campaign in March, targeting 60 high schools.
An important component of the Cultural Change Program is the education system. Mr. Maximilian Foedinger, said that the project will work together with the Ministry of Education, Culture and Research to review the university curriculum and develop a model of lessons for lyceums and gymnasiums, an IP Management Book and an E-Learning System and review of university curriculum.
Kenneth Wright then stated, in order to combat online piracy, reduce access to illegal content, and encourage rights holders to protect their intellectual property, by the end of this year, the project will implement information campaigns targeting the internet, markets and right holders.
Also, according to Yuriy Kapitsa, intensive work has been done in the field of GI, namely the development of a gap analysis, identification of traditional products, training and support for authorities, regional seminars for local producers and preparation of recommendations to improve the GI system in Moldova.
Project priorities for the next period include delivering the program of cultural exchange, finalisation of the IT system and strengthening the GI system in Moldova.
The next Steering Meeting is planned to be held in September 2018.
The technical assistance project EuropeAid/137467/DH/SER/MD "Support to enforcement of the intellectual property rights” was launched in November 2016, with a two-year implementation period. One of the basic objectives of the Project is the improvement of the geographical indication system in the Republic of Moldova.
