The Workshop on the Draft Decision of the CEFTA Joint Committee (Central European Free Trade Agreement) on Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) and the Establishment of a CEFTA Sub-Committee on Protection of IP Rights was held on December 7-8, 2022, in Brussels, Belgium.
The event was organized by the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) and the CEFTA Secretariat. Its main purpose was to discuss among the CEFTA member states the Draft Decision proposed for approval by the CEFTA Joint Committee.
This year’s workshop brought together delegates from all the national IP offices of the CEFTA Member States, as well as representatives of the EUIPO and the European Commission.
The Republic of Moldova was represented by a delegation from the State Agency on Intellectual Property (AGEPI), led by Deputy Director General Andrei Popa and including Diana Stici, Head of the Legal Department and Simion Levitchi, Head of the Trademarks and Industrial Design Department.
In the opening of the event, the Deputy Director General of AGEPI, Andrei Popa, mentioned that the creation of the CEFTA legal framework in the field of intellectual property would lead to the intensification of cooperation in the field of IP in order to facilitate commercial exchanges and eliminate barriers to trade between member states and ensure the regional framework for IP. “For the State Agency on Intellectual Property of the Republic of Moldova, this regional cooperation is particularly important in terms of developing and ensuring the functionality of the intellectual property rights enforcement system. We show our willingness to participate in CEFTA activities aimed at contributing to trade facilitation and EU integration. Intellectual property, as a key engine for economic growth, could help companies, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, to make the most of the intellectual assets they create,” Andrei Popa pointed out.
We should mention that the opportunity to establish a framework for cooperation in the field of IP rights was discussed during the Workshop on Regional Cooperation of the IP Offices of the CEFTA Member States organized in Skopje, North Macedonia, on December 14-16, 2021.
During the Workshop, the representatives of the CEFTA Member States were invited to continue the discussions regarding the establishment of the regional framework on intellectual property, as well as to reach an agreement on the text of the draft decision, which will have as its final goal the facilitation of trade between these states.
At the same time, the AGEPI delegation is participating, on December 9, this year, in the Conference with the main title: A stepping stone to the EU Single Market, organized within the CEFTA Week held on December 8-9, in Brussels. CEFTA Week is organized annually with the aim of summarizing the CEFTA results recorded during the last year. The conference will bring together representatives of CEFTA member countries, business community and international organizations.
It should be noted that, over the years, EUIPO and the Republic of Moldova have cooperated closely in order to support the development of the national IP system, aiming, in particular, at strengthening the institutional capacities of AGEPI and the integration of our country’s IP data into the European Union tools. In recent years, the cooperation between EUIPO and the Republic of Moldova has increased significantly, as our country pursues European integration and harmonization with EU legislation and practices in the field.
