2. What is the link between GATT and WTO?
3. What are the basic Principles of the WTO?
4. Could a WTO Member give any preferential treatment to any other Member?
5. What are the areas covered by WTO?
6. How does a country become a member of the WTO?
7. What are the different stages of the WTO accession?
8. Is there a time frame for Lebanon to conclude negotiations?
9. What are the new legislation that Lebanon is working to introduce before accession?
12. Does Lebanon have to eliminate its Export Plus program for exported agriculture produce?
13. What is GATS and what are its components?
14. What are the sectors that GATS covers?
15. Does liberalization mean deregulation?
16. How is trade in services defined according to GATS? What are the” modes “of supply?
17. Do we have to liberalize all services sectors and how is it done?
18. What is a country schedule of commitments in services?
19. What are governmental services according to GATS and are they included in the agreement?
21. What are “intellectual property rights”?
22. What are the areas covered by TRIPS?
23. Does the TRIPS Agreement apply to all WTO Members?
24. What are the basic principles of TRIPS?
25. Is Lebanon entitled to make use of the general transition periods?
31. What is the relationship between the WTO and WIPO?
36. What are the Technical Barriers to Trade?
38. What is the difference between technical regulation and standard?
39. What are the SPS Measures?
41. What is the difference between the TBT and SPS measures?
42. How does a member country know other countries’ TBT and SPS measures?
E-Brochure (FAQ)
http://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/whatis_e/tif_e/fact1_e.htm
2. What is the link between GATT and WTO?
The WTO began life on 1 January 1995, but its trading system is half a century older. Since 1948, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) had provided the rules for the system. Over the years GATT evolved through several rounds of negotiations.
The last and largest GATT round, was the Uruguay Round which lasted from 1986 to 1994 and led to the WTO’s creation. Whereas GATT had mainly dealt with trade in goods, the WTO and its agreements now cover- besides trade in Goods: trade in Services, and in traded inventions, creations and designs (intellectual property).
http://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/whatis_e/inbrief_e/inbr01_e.htm
3. What are the basic Principles of the WTO?
A number of simple, fundamental principles run throughout all of the legal texts of the WTO agreements. These principles are the foundation of the multilateral trading system:
A. Trade without discrimination:
i. Most-favoured-nation (MFN): treating others equally: Under the WTO agreements, countries cannot normally discriminate between their trading partners. Grant a country a special favour (such as a lower customs duty rate for one of their products) and you have to do the same for all other WTO members.
ii. National treatment: Treating foreigners and locals equally Imported and locally-produced goods should be treated equally — at least after the foreign goods have entered the market. The same should apply to foreign and domestic services, and to foreign and local trademarks, copyrights and patents. This principle of “national treatment” (giving others the same treatment as one’s own nationals) is also found in all the three main WTO agreements (Article 3 of GATT, Article 17 GATS and Article 3 of TRIPS), although the principle is handled slightly differently in each of these.
B. Freer trade: gradually, through negotiation
Lowering trade barriers is one of the most obvious means of encouraging trade. The barriers concerned include customs duties (or tariffs) and measures such as import bans or quotas that restrict quantities selectively. From time to time other issues such as red tape and exchange rate policies have also been discussed.
C. Predictability: through binding and transparency
In the WTO, when countries agree to open their markets for goods or services, they “bind” their commitments. For goods, these bindings amount to ceilings on customs tariff rates. For Services, bindings are done on Service sectors chosen by each country and the degree of liberalization is controlled through the choice of mode of supply.
The system also tries to improve predictability and stability in other ways as well. One way is to make countries’ trade rules as clear and public (“transparent”) as possible. Many WTO agreements require governments to disclose their policies and practices publicly within the country (publishing all trade related legislation in the official gazette) or by notifying the WTO
http://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/whatis_e/tif_e/fact2_e.htm
4. Could a WTO Member give any preferential treatment to any other Member?
Yes, this preferential treatment is possible and falls under certain exceptions to some of the WTO principles, among which:
a.Customs Unions and Free Trade Areas: in the WTO context, regional trade agreements allow governments to liberalize or facilitate trade sometimes through free-trade areas or customs unions.
WTO Members are permitted to enter into such arrangements under specific conditions which are spelled out in a set of rules (GATT and GATS article XXIV).
b. Preferential Schemes: Generalized System of Preferences (GSP): non-reciprocal preferential agreements involve preferences that are given by developed countries to developing countries and Least Developed Countries (LDC), in order to help them expand their exports, and thus increase their foreign exchange earnings.
5. What are the areas covered by WTO?
The WTO Agreements cover goods, services and intellectual property.
They spell out the principles of liberalization, and the permitted exceptions.
They include individual countries’ commitments to lower customs tariffs and other trade barriers, and to open and keep open services markets.
They set procedures for settling disputes.
They prescribe
special treatment for developing countries.
They require governments to make their trade policies transparent
by notifying the WTO about laws in force and
measures adopted, and through regular reports by the secretariat on countries’
trade policies.
The WTO agreements also include extra agreements and annexes dealing with the special requirements of specific sectors or issues such as the agreements on Agriculture, Safeguards and SPS for Goods and the annexes on telecommunication and air transport for services.
|
In a nutshell
The
basic structure of the WTO agreements: how the six main areas fit together —
the umbrella WTO Agreement, goods, services, intellectual property, disputes
and trade policy reviews. |
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|
Umbrella |
AGREEMENT ESTABLISHING WTO |
||
|
|
Goods |
Services |
Intellectual property |
|
Basic principles |
GATT |
GATS |
TRIPS |
|
Additional details |
Other goods agreements
and annexes |
Services annexes |
|
|
Market access
commitments |
Countries’ schedules
of commitments |
Countries’ schedules
of commitments(and MFN exemptions) |
|
|
Dispute settlement |
DISPUTE SETTLEMENT |
||
|
Transparency |
TRADE POLICY REVIEWS |
||
|
For
goods (under GATT) · Agriculture |
For
services (the GATS annexes) · Movement of
natural persons |
http://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/whatis_e/inbrief_e/inbr03_e.htm
6.How does a country become a member of the WTO?
Any state or customs territory having full autonomy in the conduct of its trade policies may join (“accede to”) the WTO after WTO members agree on the terms.
The process of accession to the WTO begins when an applicant country submits a communication to the Director-General of the WTO expressing its desire to accede to the WTO under Article XII. The General Council then considers the application and establishes a working party. The working party is chaired by a Chairperson selected after consultations with WTO Members and the applicant.
The working party is charged of examining the application of the Government requesting the accession to the WTO, under Article XII, and submitting to the General Council/Ministerial Conference, recommendations which may include a draft Protocol of Accession.
7.What are the different stages of the WTO accession?
Broadly speaking, the accession goes
through 4 stages: also see
accession chart
i. Submission of a Memorandum on Foreign Trade
Regime (MFTR):
describing all aspects of trade and economic policies that have a bearing
on WTO agreements.
ii. Questions and Answers
phase (Q&A) and Working Party Meetings:
Following the circulation
of
the Memorandum, members of the working party ask questions in relation to it to
obtain more information about the applicant's foreign trade régime. Replies are
discussed in working Party Meetings.
iii. Bilateral Negotiations:
When the working
party has made sufficient progress on principles and policies, parallel
bilateral talks begin between the prospective new member and individual countries on market access issues with respects to goods and services.
iv. Report, Protocol of Accession and Entry into Force: the working party finalizes the terms of accession once it has completed its examination of the applicant’s trade regime, and the parallel bilateral market access negotiations are achieved. These appear in a report, a draft membership treaty (“protocol of accession”) and lists (“schedules”) of the member-to-be’s commitments.
When the
Draft Report, Draft Protocol and Schedules on Goods and Services are finalized,
the working party will submit the package to the WTO General Council/Ministerial Conference for approval. Following the
decision of the General Council/Ministerial
Conference to adopt the package, the Protocol of Accession enters into force.
Thirty days after acceptance by the applicant, it becomes a WTO Member.
8.Is there a time frame for Lebanon to conclude negotiations?
There is no time
frame for concluding negotiations to accede to the WTO. At this point in time,
concluding negotiations and acceding to the WTO depend on several factors that
interact together in determining the conclusion date for negotiations:
i.
Domestic Factors: A country’s readiness with
respect to legislation, documentation and offers.
ii.
Bilateral Negotiations: Readiness of WTO Members to
engage in bilateral talks (submitting requests on goods and services offers).
iii.
WTO Secretariat: Fitting working party
meetings in the busy WTO Schedule.
iv. Multilateral Negotiations: the preoccupation of WTO member countries with concluding the on-going multilateral negotiations (the Doha Development Agenda).
9.What are the new legislation that Lebanon is working to introduce before accession?
Lebanon’s legislative reforms
include modernizing existing laws, minimizing restrictions and simplifying
procedures. It is to be noted that any trade related legislation introduced by a WTO Member country or country in the process of accession must be in conformity
with the relevant WTO Agreement(s).
Lebanon is currently working on
six laws which are all in the pipelines awaiting approval and enactment
Draft law on
International Trade and Licensing:
This draft law aims to regulate the application of
Non-Tariff Measures in Lebanon
(import/export prohibitions and licenses) in accordance with WTO agreements and
principles.
Draft
Law on Food:
This draft law sets the general rules for producing and importing food
products. It is applied to all the stages of production (manufacturing,
marketing, packing ...etc) and calls for
the establishment of a Lebanese Food Safety Authority in charge of food safety
control and inspection in Lebanon.
Draft
Law on Standard, Technical Regulations and Conformity Assessment Procedures:
This draft law regulates the issuance of
standards and technical regulations so that they become in conformity with the
WTO Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade. It amends the previous law
establishing the Lebanese standardizing body (Libnor).
Draft Law on
Plant Quarantine:
This draft law sets the procedures and conditions for the import and export of
plant and plant products, taking into account the way of dealing with related
diseases.
Draft Law on
Animal Quarantine:
This draft law sets the procedures and conditions for the import and export of
animal and animal products, taking into account the way of dealing with related
diseases and prohibitions.
Law
on Anti-dumping, countervailing and safeguard measures:
This Draft Law aims to
protect the National Production from the unfair trade practices that may cause
or threaten to cause material injury to the domestic industry whenever a
product enters Lebanon
in dumped or subsidized prices or in huge quantities.
It sets the rules and conditions for
initiating and conducting investigations and imposing Anti-dumping,
countervailing and safeguard measures.
Additional laws currently
in the pipelines at the Ministry of Economy and Trade
|
Title |
Objectives |
|
Law on competition |
- This draft law ensures competition and market access by preventing anti-competitive practices and abuses of dominance, thereby maximizing consumer welfare and promoting economic efficiency and innovation. |
|
Law on Metrology |
- This draft law regulates the measurements (calibration) preformed in Lebanon so that they become in conformity with international standards. |
|
Law on Industrial Property (Trademarks, Geographical Indications, Industrial Designs, and Unfair Competition) |
- This draft law consolidates all industrial property legislation in one specific law, and modernizes the existing system of protection. |
A WTO Member Country has to bind its tariffs at either the applied rates or other rates negotiated bilaterally with other Member Countries. Liberalization does not mean abolishing tariffs. This will not result in increased volumes of import that will cause injury since tariffs will be maintained at the applied rates.
The three Trade Remedies that can be used upon
injury to Domestic Industry are: Anti-Dumping , Countervailing Measures, and
Safeguard Measures.
a. Anti-dumping (against dumped imported products)
Dumping, in general, is a situation of
international price discrimination, where the price of a product when sold in
the importing country is less than the price of that product in the market of
the exporting country.
In other words, Dumping is the sale of a product
for export at a price below its "normal value".
This definition entails a comparison between two
prices, the "export price" and the "normal value" in order
to determine if a product is dumped. Normal value is usually the domestic price
of the product in the exporting country.
Dumping is not the sale of a product for export at
a price below that charged by domestic producers in the importing country, nor
the flood of large quantity of a certain product in the domestic market.
b.
Countervailing Measures (against subsidized imported products)
A
Countervailing Measure is the measure imposed whenever a subsidized product
causes material injury or threat thereof, or material retardation of the establishment
of domestic industry.
c. Safeguard
Measures (against increased importation of a product in such a way as to cause
or threaten to cause serious injury to the local industry)
A Safeguard measure is an "emergency"
action with respect to increased imports of particular product, where such
imports have caused or threaten to cause serious injury to the Lebanese
domestic industry.
Such measures can consist
of quantitative import restrictions (quotas or tariff quotas) or of duty
increases to higher than bound rates (tariff measures).
More
info on trade remedies >>
http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/tratop_e.htm
12. Does Lebanon have to eliminate its Export Plus program for exported agriculture products?
The WTO Agreement on Agriculture provides exceptions for developing countries allowing them to maintain export subsidies - not subject to reduction commitments - during the implementation period in respect of certain marketing and transportation subsidies. Lebanon’s export subsidies, part of the Export Plus Program, fall under this exception.
More information on Agriculture >>
http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/agric_e/agric_e.htm
13.What is GATS and what are its components?
The General Agreement on Trade in Services is the first and only set of multilateral rules governing international trade in services. Negotiated in the Uruguay Round, it was developed in response to the huge growth of the services economy over the past 30 years and the greater potential for trading services brought about by the communications revolution.
The GATS has three elements: the main text containing general obligations and disciplines; annexes dealing with rules for specific sectors; and individual countries’ specific commitments to provide access to their markets, including indications of where countries are temporarily not applying the “most-favored-nation” principle of non-discrimination.
14-What are the sectors that GATS covers?
The agreement covers all internationally-traded services .It includes 11 main sectors for example, banking, telecommunications, tourism, professional services, etc.
15-Does liberalization mean deregulation?
GATS does not require any
service to be deregulated. Commitments to liberalize do not affect governments’
right to set levels of quality, safety, or price, or to introduce regulations
to pursue any other policy objective they see fit. A commitment to national treatment,
for example, would only mean that the same regulations would apply to foreign
suppliers as to nationals. Governments naturally retain their right to set
qualification requirements for doctors or lawyers, and to set standards to
ensure consumer health and safety. The Government may also choose to set its
level of liberalization through its choice of Modes of supply of the service.
16-How is trade in services defined according to GATS? What are the” modes “of supply?
GATS defines four ways (or “modes”) of trading services:
consumers
or firms making use of a service in another country (e.g. tourism), officially
“consumption abroad” (“mode 2”)
a
foreign company setting up subsidiaries or branches to provide services in
another country (e.g. foreign banks setting up operations in a country),
officially “commercial presence” (“mode 3”)
individuals
traveling from their own country to supply services in another (e.g. fashion
models or consultants), officially “presence of natural persons” (“mode 4”)
17-Do we have to liberalize all services sectors and how is it done?
No, a government has the right to
choose the Sectors to be liberalized and the level of liberalization which
appear in its schedule of commitments.
18- What is a country schedule of commitments in services?
The commitments appear in
“schedules” that list the sectors being opened, the extent of market access
being given in those sectors (e.g. whether there are any restrictions on
foreign ownership), and any limitations on national treatment (whether some
rights granted to local companies will not be granted to foreign companies).
So, for example, if a government commits itself to allow foreign banks to
operate in its domestic market, that is a market-access commitment. And
if the government limits the number of licenses it will issue, then that is a market-access
limitation. If it also says foreign banks are only allowed one branch while
domestic banks are allowed numerous branches, that is an exception to the
national treatment principle.
19-What are governmental services according to GATS and are they included in the agreement?
Governmental services are defined in the agreement as those that are not supplied commercially and do not compete with other suppliers.
These services are not subject to any GATS disciplines, they are not covered by the negotiations, and commitments on market access and national treatment (treating foreign and domestic companies equally) do not apply to them.
TRIPS is the WTO
Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights.
The Agreement negotiated in the 1986-94 Uruguay Round, introduced intellectual property rules into the multilateral trading system for the first time.
The TRIPS Agreement is often described as one of the three “pillars” of the WTO, the other two being trade in goods (the traditional domain of the GATT) and trade in services.
The TRIPS Agreement is part of the “single undertaking” resulting from the Uruguay Round negotiations. That implies that the TRIPS Agreement applies to all WTO members. It also means that the provisions of the agreement are subject to the integrated WTO dispute settlement mechanism which is contained in the Dispute Settlement Understanding (the “Understanding on Rules and Procedures Governing the Settlement of Disputes”).
The agreement covers five broad issues:
how basic principles of the trading system and
other international intellectual property agreements should be applied
how to give adequate protection to intellectual
property rights
how countries should enforce those rights adequately
in their own territories
how to settle disputes on intellectual property
between members of the WTO
special transitional arrangements during the period
when the new system is being introduced.
21. What are “intellectual property rights”?
Intellectual property rights can be defined as the rights given to people over the creations of their minds. They usually give the creator an exclusive right over the use of his/her creations for a certain period of time.
Intellectual property rights are traditionally divided into two main categories:
Copyright and related rights: i.e. rights granted to
authors of literary and artistic works, and the rights of performers, producers
of phonograms, broadcasting organizations and publishers.
Industrial property:
This includes the
protection of distinctive signs such as
trademarks
and geographical indications,
as well as inventions (protected by
patents),
industrial designs
and trade secrets.
For the purposes of the TRIPS Agreement, “intellectual property” refers to copyright and related rights, trademarks, geographical indications, industrial designs, patents, integrated circuit layout-designs and protection of undisclosed information.
22. What are the areas covered by TRIPS?
Copyright: The TRIPS agreement ensures that computer programs will be protected as literary works under the Berne Convention and outlines how databases should be protected. It also expands international copyright rules to cover rental rights. Authors of computer programs and producers of sound recordings must have the right to prohibit the commercial rental of their works to the public. A similar exclusive right applies to films where commercial rental has led to widespread copying, affecting copyright-owners’ potential earnings from their films. The agreement says performers must also have the right to prevent unauthorized recording, reproduction and broadcast of live performances (bootlegging) for no less than 50 years. Producers of sound recordings must have the right to prevent the unauthorized reproduction of recordings for a period of 50 years.
Trademarks: The agreement defines what types of signs must be eligible for protection as trademarks, and what the minimum rights conferred on their owners must be. It says that service marks must be protected in the same way as trademarks used for goods. Marks that have become well-known in a particular country enjoy additional protection.
Geographical indications: A place name is sometimes used to identify a product. This “geographical indication” does not only say where the product was made. More importantly, it identifies the product’s special characteristics, which are the result of the product’s origins. Well-known examples include “Champagne”, “Scotch”, “Tequila”, and “Roquefort” cheese. Wine and spirits makers are particularly concerned about the use of place-names to identify products, and the TRIPS Agreement contains special provisions for these products. But the issue is also important for other types of goods. Using the place name when the product was made elsewhere or when it does not have the usual characteristics can mislead consumers, and it can lead to unfair competition. The TRIPS Agreement says countries have to prevent this misuse of place names. For wines and spirits, the agreement provides higher levels of protection, i.e. even where there is no danger of the public being misled. Some exceptions are allowed, for example if the name is already protected as a trademark or if it has become a generic term. For example, “cheddar” now refers to a particular type of cheese not necessarily made in Cheddar, in the UK. But any country wanting to make an exception for these reasons must be willing to negotiate with the country which wants to protect the geographical indication in question. The agreement provides for further negotiations in the WTO to establish a multilateral system of notification and registration of geographical indications for wines. These are now part of the Doha Development Agenda and they include spirits. Also debated in the WTO is whether to negotiate extending this higher level of protection beyond wines and spirits.
Industrial designs: Under the TRIPS Agreement, industrial designs must be protected for at least 10 years. Owners of protected designs must be able to prevent the manufacture, sale or importation of articles bearing or embodying a design which is a copy of the protected design.
Patents: The agreement says patent protection must be available for inventions for at least 20 years. Patent protection must be available for both products and processes, in almost all fields of technology. Governments can refuse to issue a patent for an invention if its commercial exploitation is prohibited for reasons of public order or morality. They can also exclude diagnostic, therapeutic and surgical methods, plants and animals (other than microorganisms), and biological processes for the production of plants or animals (other than microbiological processes). Plant varieties, however, must be protectable by patents or by a special system (such as the breeder’s rights provided in the conventions of UPOV — the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants). The agreement describes the minimum rights that a patent owner must enjoy. But it also allows certain exceptions. A patent owner could abuse his rights, for example by failing to supply the product on the market. To deal with that possibility, the agreement says governments can issue “compulsory licences”, allowing a competitor to produce the product or use the process under licence. But this can only be done under certain conditions aimed at safeguarding the legitimate interests of the patent-holder. If a patent is issued for a production process, then the rights must extend to the product directly obtained from the process. Under certain conditions alleged infringers may be ordered by a court to prove that they have not used the patented process.
An issue that has arisen recently is how to ensure patent protection for pharmaceutical products does not prevent people in poor countries from having access to medicines — while at the same time maintaining the patent system’s role in providing incentives for research and development into new medicines. Flexibilities such as compulsory licensing are written into the TRIPS Agreement, but some governments were unsure of how these would be interpreted, and how far their right to use them would be respected. A large part of this was settled when WTO ministers issued a special declaration at the Doha Ministerial Conference in November 2001. They agreed that the TRIPS Agreement does not and should not prevent members from taking measures to protect public health. They underscored countries’ ability to use the flexibilities that are built into the TRIPS Agreement. And they agreed to extend exemptions on pharmaceutical patent protection for least-developed countries until 2016. On one remaining question, they assigned further work to the TRIPS Council — to sort out how to provide extra flexibility, so that countries unable to produce pharmaceuticals domestically can import patented drugs made under compulsory licensing. A waiver providing this flexibility was agreed on 30 August 2003.
Integrated circuits layout designs: The basis for protecting integrated circuit designs (“topographies”) in the TRIPS agreement is the Washington Treaty on Intellectual Property in Respect of Integrated Circuits, which comes under the World Intellectual Property Organization. This was adopted in 1989 but has not yet entered into force. The TRIPS agreement adds a number of provisions: for example, protection must be available for at least 10 years.
Undisclosed information and trade secrets: Trade secrets and other types of “undisclosed information” which have commercial value must be protected against breach of confidence and other acts contrary to honest commercial practices. But reasonable steps must have been taken to keep the information secret. Test data submitted to governments in order to obtain marketing approval for new pharmaceutical or agricultural chemicals must also be protected against unfair commercial use.
Curbing anti-competitive licensing contracts: The owner of a copyright, patent or other form of intellectual property right can issue a license for someone else to produce or copy the protected trademark, work, invention, design, etc. The agreement recognizes that the terms of a licensing contract could restrict competition or impede technology transfer. It says that under certain conditions, governments have the right to take action to prevent anti-competitive licensing that abuses intellectual property rights. It also says governments must be prepared to consult each other on controlling anti-competitive licensing.
Enforcement tough but fair: Having intellectual property laws is not enough. They have to be enforced. The agreement says governments have to ensure that intellectual property rights can be enforced under their laws, and that the penalties for infringement are tough enough to deter further violations. The procedures must be fair and equitable, and not unnecessarily complicated or costly. They should not entail unreasonable time-limits or unwarranted delays. People involved should be able to ask a court to review an administrative decision or to appeal a lower court’s ruling. The agreement describes in some detail how enforcement should be handled, including rules for obtaining evidence, provisional measures, injunctions, damages and other penalties. It says courts should have the right, under certain conditions, to order the disposal or destruction of pirated or counterfeit goods. Wilful trademark counterfeiting or copyright piracy on a commercial scale should be criminal offences. Governments should make sure that intellectual property rights owners can receive the assistance of customs authorities to prevent imports of counterfeit and pirated goods.
Technology transfer: Developing countries in particular, see technology transfer as part of the bargain in which they have agreed to protect intellectual property rights. The TRIPS Agreement includes a number of provisions on this. For example, it requires developed countries’ governments to provide incentives for their companies to transfer technology to least-developed countries.
Transition arrangements: 1, 5 or 11 years or more:When the WTO
agreements took effect on 1 January 1995, developed countries were given one
year to ensure that their laws and practices conform with the TRIPS agreement.
Developing countries and (under certain conditions) transition economies were
given five years, until 2000. Least-developed countries have 11 years, until
2006 — now extended to 2016 for pharmaceutical patents.
If a developing country did not provide product patent protection in a particular area of technology when the TRIPS Agreement came into force (1 January 1995), it has up to 10 years to introduce the protection. But for pharmaceutical and agricultural chemical products, the country must accept the filing of patent applications from the beginning of the transitional period, though the patent need not be granted until the end of this period. If the government allows the relevant pharmaceutical or agricultural chemical to be marketed during the transition period, it must — subject to certain conditions — provide an exclusive marketing right for the product for five years, or until a product patent is granted, whichever is shorter.
Subject to certain exceptions, the general rule is that obligations in the agreement apply to intellectual property rights that existed at the end of a country’s transition period as well as to new ones.
23. Does the TRIPS Agreement apply to all WTO Members?
All the WTO agreements apply to all WTO members. Each member accepts all the agreements as a single package with a single signature — making it, a “single undertaking”. The TRIPS Agreement is part of that package; therefore, it applies to all WTO members.
24. What are the basic principles of TRIPS?
As in GATT and GATS, the starting point of the intellectual property agreement is basic principles. And as in the two other agreements, non-discrimination features prominently: national treatment (treating one’s own nationals and foreigners equally), and most-favoured-nation treatment (equal treatment for nationals of all trading partners in the WTO). National treatment is also a key principle in other intellectual property agreements outside the WTO.
The TRIPS Agreement has an additional important principle: intellectual property protection should contribute to technical innovation and the transfer of technology. Both producers and users should benefit, and economic and social welfare should be enhanced, the agreement says.
25. Is Lebanon entitled to make use of the general transition periods?
The general transitional periods apply to the original members of the WTO, i.e. governments that were members on 1 January 1995. Since the WTO came into being, a number of countries have joined it. These countries have generally agreed in their membership agreements (their “accession protocols”) to apply the TRIPS Agreement from the date when they officially became WTO members, without the benefit of any transition period.
Before the 1986–94 Uruguay Round negotiations, there was no specific agreement on intellectual property rights in the framework of the GATT multilateral trading system.
However, some principles contained in the GATT had a bearing on intellectual property measures taken on imports or exports. (Article XX(d) of GATT).
The TRIPS Agreement says WTO member countries must comply with the substantive obligations of the main conventions of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) — the Paris Convention on industrial property, and the Berne Convention on copyright (in their most recent versions).
With the exception of the provisions of the Berne Convention on moral rights, all the substantive provisions of these conventions are incorporated by reference. They therefore become obligations for WTO member countries under the TRIPS Agreement — they have to apply these main provisions, and apply them to the individuals and companies of all other WTO members.
The TRIPS Agreement also introduces additional obligations in areas which were not addressed in these conventions, or were thought not to be sufficiently addressed in them.
The TRIPS Agreement is therefore sometimes described as a “Berne and Paris-plus” Agreement.
The text of the TRIPS Agreement also makes use of the provisions of some other international agreements on intellectual property rights:
WTO members are required to protect integrated circuit layout designs in accordance with the provisions of the Treaty on Intellectual Property in Respect of Integrated Circuits (IPIC Treaty) together with certain additional obligations.
The TRIPS Agreement refers to a number of
provisions of the
International
Convention for the Protection of Performers, Producers of Phonograms and
Broadcasting Organizations (Rome
Convention), without entailing a general requirement to comply
with the substantive provisions of that Convention.
Article 2 of the TRIPS Agreement specifies that nothing in Parts I to IV of the agreement shall derogate from existing obligations that members may have to each other under the Paris Convention, the Berne Convention, the Rome Convention and the Treaty on Intellectual Property in respect of integrated circuits (did not yet enter into force).
No, there is no obligation for WTO member countries to adhere to the pre-existing international conventions that TRIPS refers to. However, member countries should apply the provisions of these Agreements as WTO/TRIPS obligations.
Lebanon is already a Member of the following conventions:
· Paris Convention for the
Protection of Industrial Property (London Act in 1947);
· The Berne Convention for the
Protection of Literary and Artistic Works (Rome Act in 1947);
· The International Convention for the Protection of Performers, Producers of Phonograms and
Broadcasting Organizations (Rome Convention, 1997).
However, Lebanon has committed itself under
the EU Association Agreement and the EFTA agreement to ratify, by March 1st,
2008, the last versions of the following:
· The Paris Convention for the protection of industrial property
(Stockholm Act)
· The Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works (Paris Act).
The
World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) was established by a convention of
14 July 1967, which entered into force in 1970. It has been a specialized
agency of the United Nations since 1974, and administers a number of
international unions or treaties in the area of intellectual property, such as
the Paris and Berne Conventions.
WIPO’s objectives are to promote intellectual
property protection throughout the world through cooperation among states and,
where appropriate, in collaboration with any other international organization.
WIPO also aims to ensure administrative cooperation
among the intellectual property unions created by the Paris and Berne
Conventions and sub-treaties concluded by the members of the Paris Union.
Website:
www.wipo.int
31. What is the relationship between the WTO and WIPO?
An agreement on cooperation between WIPO and the WTO