ISLAMABAD: Director-General (DG) Intellectual Property Rights (IPP) Dr. Arslan said that border control can be enforced as swiftly and effectively as any other import control through Pakistan Customs via nationwide e-platform and the Customs IPR Enforcement has possessed a key mechanism which can support sustained economic growth.
DG IPR Dr. Arslan Subuktageen while talking with Customs Today during an exclusive interview said that violation of copyright promoted the pirated imports and tax evasion which put huge negative impact on national economy.
Answering a query, Dr. Arslan said that an immediate objective after the establishment of the Customs IPR Directorate all over the country was to integrate it in the WeBOC system, adding that IPR enforcement legislation itself has been the outcome of sustained dialogue with the key stakeholders like WCO, WIPO, IPO Pakistan and many other national and international organizations.
Narrating about controls of the nationwide e-platform, he said it means that the national or international right-holders or their representatives can get their right enforced with the need to physically access Customs authorities. He further told that the Customs legislation relating to the four key areas of IPR enforcement like trademarks, copyrights, designs and integrated circuits dated back to 2001. It is also true that the focus controls have been established in the form of the DG of IPR a couple of years ago.
Answering another query, he said that intimate beneficiary of IPR border enforcement is the genuine trade itself whether national or international, this brings me to core function of Customs like trade facilitation, this term has become synonymous with judging a country’s performance in the case of doing business. He added that in Customs term trade facilitation this term becomes synonymous with judging a country’s performance in the case of doing business, in Customs phrasing trade facilitation is for trade in genuine goods only, it does not mean to do clandestine trade in illicit or counterfeit products, this is the spirit of the TRIPS and WTO’s agreement on trade facilitation to which Pakistan is a signatory.
After consolidating the gains of IPR enforcement in imports, Pakistan Customs is contemplating to extend this protection to Pakistani exports, ‘we are fully aware of the need and necessity engaging with Pakistani brands owners, especially textile products and other international stakeholders in this context,’ he added.
