Musungu, Sisule F. --- "Enforcement Provisions of EPAs" [2009] ELECD 594; in Meléndez-Ortiz, Ricardo; Roffe, Pedro (eds), "Intellectual Property and Sustainable Development" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2009)

Book Title: Intellectual Property and Sustainable Development

Editor(s): Meléndez-Ortiz, Ricardo; Roffe, Pedro

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781848446458

Section: Chapter 16

Section Title: Enforcement Provisions of EPAs

Author(s): Musungu, Sisule F.

Number of pages: 15

Extract:

16. Enforcement provisions of EPAs
Sisule F. Musungu

INTRODUCTION

A key part of the strategy behind the introduction of intellectual property (IP) into the
Uruguay Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations resulting in the Agreement on Trade-
Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) was to ratchet up enforcement of
IP rights (IPRs) in developing countries. Consequently, in addition to the application of
the World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute settlement system to IP disputes between
WTO Members, detailed rules regarding enforcement of IP at the national level were
inserted into the TRIPS Agreement. The whole of Part Three of the TRIPS Agreement,
containing 21 articles out of the Agreement's 72 articles, relates to enforcement.
The minimum enforcement standards under TRIPS cover general obligations on
enforcement to very specific rules on evidence, injunctions, damages, remedies and border
measures, as well as the application of criminal procedures and penalties. These TRIPS
standards have had both a conceptual and practical effect with respect to enforcement of
IPRs in developing countries and least-developed countries (LDCs). In the last decade,
many of these countries have already made significant efforts towards meeting the
standards set by TRIPS.
However, notwithstanding the massive ratcheting-up of the enforcement requirements
on developing countries through TRIPS, recent years have seen a massive campaign by
developed countries, through the G-8, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
Development (OECD), the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the World
Customs Union and INTERPOL, as well as in the WTO, to improve ...