A thematic meeting was held on March 30, at the headquarters of the State Agency on Intellectual Property (AGEPI), to address the issues related to the infringement of intellectual property rights (IPR) in the Republic of Moldova and the impact on the local economy.

The meeting was attended by representatives of AGEPI, the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MAI), the State Inspectorate for Supervision of Non-Food Products and Consumer Protection (SISNFPCP), as well as representatives of rightholders.

The meeting was chaired by the chairman of the Observatory on Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights, the Director General of AGEPI, Eugeniu Rusu.

The purpose of the meeting was to streamline the public-private dialogue in order to strengthen the intellectual property protection system and improve the regulatory and institutional framework necessary to enforce IPRs in the Republic of Moldova.

Aspects such as increasing the level of awareness of the population on the importance of IPR enforcemente, increasing institutional capacities and intensifying cooperation between the institutions responsible for IPR enforcement were addressed during the meeting. In addition, discussions regarding the powers of the authorities to find and examine contraventions in the field of intellectual property and their capacity as finding agents were held.

During the meeting, the representatives of the rightholders emphasized the importance of protecting IPRs and asked for greater involvement from the public authorities for their enforcement.

In the end, the participants in the meeting came to the conclusion that a complex approach and close cooperation between all parties involved is necessary to ensure adequate protection of IPRs in the Republic of Moldova.