CHISINAU, Republic of Moldova
November 23, 2010

An important element in strengthening the economic relations between the Republic of Moldova and the European Union is to harmonize the existing and future legislation of the Republic of Moldova with that of the European Union. This harmonization extends to the field of intellectual property rights.

To facilitate this process, the European Union offered the Republic of Moldova technical assistance, including exchange of experts, organization of seminars, coordination of training activities and assistance in translations.

At the same time, the adoption within the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) of the Action Plan European Union – Republic of Moldova in February 2005, has enabled our country to access additional technical assistance mechanisms, including Twinning Projects and the TAIEX Program (Technical Assistance and Information Exchange Tool) to meet the EU standards.

The Twinning Project with the name “Support to Implementation and Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights in the Republic of Moldova” was launched on November 1, 2010.

The overall objective of the Project is to improve implementation and enforcement of intellectual property rights in the Republic of Moldova. The project will improve communication between government institutions responsible for protection of intellectual property rights, strengthen the organizations for the collective administration, increase awareness of the importance of protecting intellectual property rights and will contribute to the development of the national system of protection of geographical indications, appellations of origin and traditional specialties guaranteed.

The project is funded by the European Union and will be implemented by the Danish Patent and Trademark Office, State Office for Inventions and Trademarks of Romania and State Agency on Intellectual Property of the Republic of Moldova. The Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Internal Affairs, Customs Service and Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry will also take part in the implementation of the project.

The project has a budget to the sum of 1 million euro and will be implemented over a period of 18 months (November 1, 2010 to April 30, 2012). Component 1 will focus on strengthening the administrative capacity of government institutions of the Republic of Moldova in order to protect intellectual property rights. Component 2 will aim at improving enforcement of intellectual property rights and Component 3 will develop the capacity of the State Agency on Intellectual Property of valuing and promoting intellectual property.

Project Launch Conference will be held on Tuesday, 23 November 2010, between 11:30 and 13:00, in the Republican Palace. Besides the Head of the Delegation of the European Union in the Republic of Moldova in the project launching event are waited to take part the representative of the Government of the Republic of Moldova, Romanian Ambassador in the Republic of Moldova and Project Leaders of the Danish Patent and Trademark Office, State Office for Inventions and Trademarks of Romania and State Agency on Intellectual Property of the Republic of Moldova. At the project launching conference are invited to take part representatives of public authorities vested with responsibilities in the field of protection and defense of intellectual property rights, of non-governmental organizations and academic community.