Taiwan's commitment to protect intellectual property rights

NO.	SIGNATORY	DATE	NAME OF AGREEMENT	NOTES
1	United States	1993/07/16	Agreement on Copyright Protection between Coordinating Council for North American Affairs and American Institute in Taiwan	Copyright
2	Australia	1993/08/17	Memorandum of Protection for Industrial Property Right between (former) Central Standards Bureau and Australian Commerce and Industry Office	Industrial Property Right
3	Germany	1995/06/01	Mutual Recognition of Invention Patent Priority Right with Germany	Invention Patent
4	Germany	1995/07/06	Mutual Recognition of New Design Patent Priority Right with Germany	New Design Patent
5	Switzerland	1995/12/11	Mutual Recognition of Patent Priority Right with Switzerland	Patent
6	Japan	1996/02/01	Mutual Recognition of Patent Priority Right with Japan	Patent
7	United States	1996/04/01	Memorandum of Understanding on Priority Right for Trademark and Patent between Taipei Representative Office in US and American Intitute in Taiwan	Trademark and Patent
8	France	1996/07/01	Mutual Recognition of Priority Right for Patent Design and Trademark with France	Trademark and Patent
9	Liechtenstein	1998/04/01	Mutual Recognition of Priority Right for Patent and New Design Patent with Liechtenstein	Invention Patent and New Design Patent
10	New Zealand	1998/06/15	Arrangement on Protection and Execution of Copyright between Taipei Representative Office in New Zealand and New Zealand Trade Office in Taipei	Copyright
11	European Communities	1998/07/23	Mutual Recognition of Trademark Priority Right with European Communities	Trademark
12	New Zealand	1998/10/30	Arrangement on Protection of Industrial Property Right between Taipei Representative Office in New Zealand and New Zealand Commerce and Industry Office in Taipei	Industrial Property Right
13	European Communities	1999/12/31	Memorandum of Understanding for Information Exchange on Trademark Exclusive Right Protection between Taipei MOEA/IPO and Aragon Interior Market Negotiation Office (Trademark and Design)	Trademark
14	England	2000/03/20	Arrangement on Cooperation Concerning Mutual Recognition of IPR between Taipei Representative Office in UK and British Trade and Cultural Office in Taipei	Patent
15	Austria	2000/06/03	Mutual Recognition of Patent and Trademark Priority Right	Patent and Trademark; Effective from 2000/06/15
16	El Salvador	2001/08/24	Agreement for Mutual IPR Protection between R.O.C. and El Salvador	Patent and Trademark
17	Netherland	2001/11/12	Agreement for Mutual Recognition of Patent Priority Right between Taipei Representative Office in Netherland and Netherland Trade and Investment Office in Taipei	Patent
18	Germany	2001/11/16	Memorandum of Understanding between Taipei MOEA/IPO and Patent and Trademark Office	Patent; extension the term of patent protection to five-year for medicine and agrichemical
19	Chile	2002/04/25	Memorandum of Understanding between Taipei MOEA and Santiago MOEA	Patent and Trademark

On October 11, 2002 Taiwan's Minister of Economic Affairs, Mr. Lin Yi-fu, and Costa Rica's Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr. Roberto Tovar Faja, signed a bilateral agreement on strengthening protection of intellectual property rights. Under this agreement, Taiwan and Costa Rica will recognize the priority rights for patents and trademarks of the nationals of each country and cooperate in terms of personnel exchange, information sharing as well as other mutually beneficial issues.

Before Taiwan became a member of the WTO as of January 1 this year, it had had to overcome difficulties caused by lack of participation in multilateral treaties by entering into bilateral agreements with other countries. Now that Taiwan is a member, it will be able to rely on the TRIPS Agreement that provides recognition of priority rights for patents and trademarks among member countries of the WTO. Although bilateral agreements are no longer necessary, the Ministry of Economic Affairs will continue to promote entry into similar bilateral agreements with other countries for purposes of enhancing Taiwan's diplomatic relationships, promoting cultural exchanges, and establishing a bilateral alternative in case of problems with the multilateral mechanism.

In August last year, Taiwan had entered into a mutual IPR protection cooperation agreement with El Salvador (effectiveMarch 1, 2002). The Ministry of Economic Affairs is actively seeking similar bilateral agreements with other countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, such as Honduras, Nicaragua and Guatemala.

The 4th Ministerial Conference of the WTO formally passed the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) in November 2001. According to the Bureau of Foreign Trade of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, a Trade Negotiations Committee iTNCjwill be established by the WTO, and will be assigned to create subsidiary negotiating bodies to handle individual negotiating subjects. The General Council will be responsible for monitoring the TNC.

The "Doha Development Agenda" refers to the agenda for the new round of negotiations, determined by ministers of member nations at the Doha conference. The agenda primarily consists of topics of negotiations that have commenced prior to the Doha Ministerial Conference, and topics of negotiations that will be conducted in pursuance to the Ministers' Declarations.

The TNC held its first meeting on February 1, 2002, and resolved that it would be accountable to the General Council. The TNC consists of 8 negotiating groups, including one intellectual property rights negotiating group.

The 2^nd meeting of the TNC was held on April 24, 2002, and the IPR group discussed the following issues: A special meeting will be called with the TRIPS commission, chaired by Mr. Eui Yong Chung, representative of the Korean delegation, to discuss issues relating to international registration system for liquor products; the regular session of the TRIPS commission will then review whether protection for geographical indications should be extended to wines and alcohol products provided for under the TRIPS Agreement. The group further discussed issues relating to procurement of medicines, especially where a member requires access to cheaper imported medicines within the scope of the TRIPS Agreement due to its incapability of medicine production and cost affordability for procuring particular medicines, as well as having difficulty manufacturing such medicines domestically through compulsory licensing.

The General CounciliGCjalso held two special meetings on March 8 and June 28, respectively. The next GC meeting, scheduled for Nov.20, will be focusing on substantial discussions on members' proposals. It is expected that the present round of negotiations will be completed by the time of the Ministerial Meeting next year.

At the TRIPS Council meeting on June 27, the Commission also approved the decision to extend the time for least-developed countries (LDCs) to provide patent protection for pharmaceuticals. The decision was formally adopted on July 8, hence completing one of the tasks instructed by the Doha Ministerial Meeting. The Council has also placed on the agenda of its regular meetings reviews of extending protection for geographical indications, plant and microorganism patents, and biological diversity agreement (including traditional knowledge). A progress report is expected to be submitted at the Ministerial Meeting next year.