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TITLE: Article 46 (Intellectual Property Rights) of the Partnership Agreement Between the African Caribbean and Pacific States and the European Community and its Member States, as concluded in Brussels on 3 February 2000 PUBLICATION: EU document CE/TFN/GEN/23-OR ACP/00/0371/00 DATE: 8 February 2000 SOURCE: Green Group in the European Parliament NOTE: BIO-IPR recently carried a press release from the Greens in the European Parliament denouncing a "biopiracy clause" in the negotiating text of the replacement to the Lomé Convention. The press release was dated 2 February. On 3 February, the ACP and EU member states concluded their negotiations. The final text, as regards intellectual property rights, was changed vis-à-vis the wording denounced by the Greens. We provide the final version below. The 20-year ACP-EU Partnership Agreement, successor to the Lomé Convention, will be signed in Fiji at the end of May, for ratification thereafter. There are 71 developing countries in the ACP group, 39 of which are "least developed" countries.

CE/TFN/GEN/23-OR ACP/00/0371/00

ACP-EU NEGOTIATIONS

PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE AFRICAN CARIBBEAN AND PACIFIC STATES AND THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITY AND ITS MEMBER STATES

8/02/2000

Article 46

Protection of Intellectual Property Rights

1.Without prejudice to the positions of the Parties in multilateral negotiations, the Parties recognise the need to ensure an adequate and effective level of protection of intellectual, industrial and commercial property rights, and other rights covered by TRIPS including protection of geographical indications, in line with the international standards with a view to reducing distortions and impediments to bilateral trade.

2.They underline the importance, in this context, of adherence to the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) to the WTO Agreement and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).

3.They also agree on the need to accede to all relevant international conventions on intellectual, industrial and commercial property as referred to in Part I of the TRIPS Agreement, in line with their level of development.

4.The Community, its Member States and the ACP States may consider the conclusion of agreements aimed at protecting trademarks and geographical indications for products of particular interest of either Party.

5.For the purpose of this Agreement, intellectual property includes in particular copyright, including the copyright on computer programmes and neighbouring rights, including artistic designs, and industrial property which includes utility models, patents including patents for bio-technological inventions and plant varieties or other effective sui generis systems, industrial designs, geographical indications including appellations of origin, trademarks for goods or services, topographies of integrated circuits as well as the legal protection of data bases and the protection against unfair competition as referred to in Article 10 bis of the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property and protection of undisclosed confidential information on know how.

6.The Parties further agree to strengthen their co-operation in this field. Upon request and on mutually agreed terms and conditions co-operation shall inter alia extend to the following areas: the preparation of laws and regulations for the protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights, the prevention of the abuse of such rights by rightholders and the infringement of such rights by competitors, the establishment and reinforcement of domestic and regional offices and other agencies including support for regional intellectual property organisations involved in enforcement and protection, including the training of personnel.

Update on Lome's biopiracy clause