Platform for negotiations on Chapter 7 with EU being prepared – Serbia making progress in intellectual property protection

Serbia has obliged to amend several intellectual property protection laws by the end of 2018 and secure effective protection of that right, said the director of the European Integration Office, Tanja Miscevic.

She said at yesterday's presentation of the negotiation platform for the opening of Chapter 7, dealing with intellectual property protection, that the harmonization of the legislature with the EU acquis didn't just mean amendment and implementation of the law, but also enforcement including court protection.

– The enforcement of the law means that the intellectual property is to be confirmed in court as well, that is, to receive court protection – Miscevic said and added that the Government of Serbia should soon adopt a platform for negotiations on Chapter 7.

The chapter is expected to be opened by mid-2017.

When asked how Serbia would reduce the piracy by 2018, which amounted to 67% in 2016 according to the ICD study (the EU average is 29%), Miscevic said that “there are no easy solutions”.

She added that the EU had estimated through two screening made up till then that Serbia was making progress in harmonizing the legal protection of intellectual property, and that it had been noted that better coordination of institutions in charge in the process was needed, namely, the prosecutor's office, customs, tax administration, police and others.

Acting deputy director of the Intellectual Property Office, Branka Totic, pointed out that the Law on Copyright and Related Rights and the Law on Trademarks would be amended in two phases and harmonized with the latest EU directives.

Totic added that the fee for playing music in public for proprietorship business currently exempt from the charge would be implemented after Serbia had joined the World Trade Organization.

The amendments to the Law on Copyright and Related Rights, as announced, will also introduce the copyright protection of photographs and software.

Representative of the Tax Administration, Sasa Dulic, pointed out that the department for countering illegal software had been formed within the institution six years before and that public servants were trained, but that there was a plan to move the department so that tax collectors might perform their core duty exclusively.

Ministarstvo za evropske integracije Republike Srbije

Poreska uprava Srbije

World Trade Organization Geneva

Zavod za intelektualnu svojinu Republike Srbije

Tanja Miscevic

Chapter 7

negotiations of Serbia with EU

accession negotiations of Serbia with EU

platform for negotiation on Chapter 7 with EU

intellectual property protection

piracy

Branka Totic

Law on Copyright and Related Rights

Law on Trademarks

World Trade Organization

Sasa Dulic