Ministry of economy, customs authority sign accord on IPR

The Ministry of Economy and Commerce and General Authority of Customs (GAC) yesterday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in the field of trademarks and protection of intellectual property rights (IPR).
The MoU aims to spread the culture of protecting intellectual property rights, develop customs services electronically, and contribute to supporting the national economy by combating illegal commercial practices.
The MoU was signed by Assistant Undersecretary for Commercial Affairs at the Ministry of Economy and Commerce, Yahya bin Saeed al-Nuaimi, and GAC Assistant Chairman Ahmed bin Issa al-Muhannadi, at the authority’s headquarters.
The GAC implements measures at ports to protect intellectual property rights from piracy in compliance with international conventions and related legislation, in addition to taking the required steps to combat commercial fraud and counterfeiting in co-ordination with specialised entities.
On the other hand, the Ministry of Economy and Commerce (MEC) specialises in applying the legislation related to the registration and protection of intellectual property rights in the country, including trademarks, data, trade names, industrial designs and geographical indications. The Ministry also has a database of protected intellectual property rights.
Al-Nuaimi said the MoU complements the national role the Ministry of Economy and Commerce and the GAC plays a key role in supporting the economy and devises all the methods and mechanisms that help its protection and development.
Al-Nuaimi added that the MoU is in keeping with the ministry’s continuous efforts to develop the protection of intellectual rights and promoting it and achieving the desired benefit. And the MoU is considered a continuation to the ministry’s efforts to take required measures to combat commercial fraud and counterfeiting in co-ordination with specialised entities.
Al-Nuaimi reaffirmed the ministry’s keenness to follow global standards in the field of intellectual property rights protection and providing a comprehensive technical electronic system of high quality and enable trademark owners.
Al-Muhannadi said the MoU comes as part of the GAC and the ministry’s awareness to the need to co-operate in the areas related to intellectual property rights protection, and in full belief that joint work will be more effective.
Al-Muhannadi added the GAC is keen to take all the measures at ports customs to protect intellectual property rights from piracy according to global conventions and related legislation.
It is also keen to take required measures to fight commercial fraud and counterfeit in co-ordination with specialised entities.
The MoU includes achieving an electronic link between the ministry and the authority and enable to GAC’s employees to access the registered trademarks in aim to verify the trademarks of the imported goods whether they are registered and whether or not they are protected.
The MoU also enables the ministry’s employees to overlook the seized goods’ cases that involve imitation or forgery of registered and protected trademarks in addition to pre-coordination with regards to meetings, international and regional seminars related to the topic of the MoU.
According to the MoU, the minister will periodically extend the GAC electronically with the data of registered trademarks, it will also provide the authority’s employees with training programs in the field of protection of intellectual property rights as well as exchange information on the registered trademarks and the methods of identifying their authenticity.
The GAC works on providing the best electronic services related to custom clearance and the protection of intellectual property rights for the different sectors in Qatar as it is an economic and security entity that aims to support the national and global economy.
The GAC also facilitates international trade operations and encourages investment through easing the customs procedures and reduces commercial fraud, which requires the electronic link between the different related governmental entities in the country to activate the electronic services in the best way possible.