G8

At Gleneagles in July 2005 the statement "Reducing IPR Piracy and Counterfeiting through effective enforcement " was agreed. It also said that a meeting of experts would be convened to lay out a work plan to implement these steps and to review progress under future G8 presidencies, which first met in October 2005. The experts group developed a number of projects, which we announced at the St. Petersburg Summit in 2006.

One of the Declarations made at the G8 Summit at Heiligendamm (June 2007) was on "Growth and Responsibility in the World Economy ". This Declaration included a section on "Promoting Innovation - Protecting Innovation ", which describes a number of projects that the G8 IPR expert group have discussed and sets out plans to take them forward. It refers to the establishment of an IPR Task Force focusing on anti-counterfeiting and piracy to look together at how best to improve the working of international IPR protection and enforcement.

This Declaration also refers to the "Heiligendamm Process" which was announced as a dialogue between G8 and the important emerging economies (Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa). The Process will cover four areas including promoting and protecting innovation. The OECD in Paris will provide a platform for this new dialogue. A "Joint Statement ", on this new dialogue was also issued by the German G8 Presidency and Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa.

The G8 Justice and Home Affairs Ministers also met in Munich on 23-25 May. Their "Concluding Declaration ", recognised that product counterfeiting and piracy damage the innovative capacity of national economies. The Declaration pointed to the work undertaken in the G8 experts groups, recognising the important roles of civil and criminal enforcement. The Ministers supported the development of a plan to encourage developing and newly industrialised countries that are interested in using civil and criminal law to promote the effective enforcement of intellectual property rights.

Technical Assistance

In 2005 the Romanian Government adopted a National Strategy in the field of Intellectual Property (IP). A subsequent Action Plan was developed to focus on more effective enforcement. It was recognised that further support was needed. As a result a PHARE Project was initiated and the Danish Patent Office was given the responsibility to help enhance the operational effectiveness of Government Ministries Enforcement Agencies and the judiciary.

One of the key activities was a baseline study to develop procedures and a framework methodology to identify primary indicators to estimate the rate of counterfeiting and piracy in Romania. The Intellectual Property Office was asked to lead on this activity.

A study was subsequently carried out during the summer of 2007 and a report making key recommendations was delivered to the Danish Team. The report was presented and launched at to Government officials at workshop in Bucharest in September.

October 2007