RESTRICTEDWORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONIP/C/W/158
15 October 1999
(99-4423)
Council for Trade-Related Aspects
of Intellectual Property RightsOriginal:  English
REVIEW OF LEGISLATION
Questions posed by the European Communities and its Member States
By means of a communication from the delegation of the European Communities, dated
12 October 1999, the Secretariat has received a copy of the following questions that the European
Communities had addressed to the Kyrgyz Republic and Latvia.
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KYRGYZ REPUBLIC
1. Please explain the relationship between the provisions of the Civil Code, Part 2, of
5 January 1997 and the provisions of the other main laws and regulations listed in Annex 1 ofdocument IP/N/1/KGZ/1.
2. Please explain in detail how and through which provisions the Kyrgyz Republic accords to
the nationals of other WTO Members treatment no less favourable than that which it accords to its
own nationals in compliance with Article 3 of the TRIPS Agreement in respect of protection of works,
producers of phonograms, performers and broadcasting organizations.  Apart from the TRIPS
Agreement, to what other 'international agreemen ts' do Articles 5, paragraph 1, third indent, and 34,
paragraph 4, of the Law on Copyright and Neighbouring Rights refer?
3. Please explain in detail how and through which provisions the Kyrgyz Republic restores the
protection for works, performers and producers of phonograms which, in their country of origin, have
not yet fallen into public domain in accordance with Articles 9, paragraph 1, and 14, paragraph 6, ofthe TRIPS Agreement in conjunction with Article 18 of the Berne Convention.
4. Please explain in detail how and through which provisions the Kyrgyz Republic provides for
the protection of compilations of data as intellectual creations in accordance with Articles 9,
paragraph 1, and 10, paragraph 2, of the TRIPS Agreement.
5. Please clarify how Article 34, paragraph 2, su b-paragraph 2 of the Law on Copyright and
Neighbouring Rights, which provides that the rights of phonogram producers shall be protected under
this law only if they are published in the Kyrgyz Republic within 30 days from their first publication
abroad, complies with Article 14, paragraph 2, of the TRIPS Agreement.
6. Please explain in detail how and through which provisions the Kyrgyz Republic provides
rental rights for authors in respect of computer programmes and cinematographic works and for
producers of phonograms and any other right holder in accordance with Articles 11 and 14,
paragraph 4, of the TRIPS Agreement.
7. Please confirm that in accordance with Part III of the TRIPS Agreement all appropriate
measures in respect of intellectual property rights, including copyright protection, will be fully
enforced.
8. Article 2 of the Law of the Kyrgyz Republic  on Trademarks, Service Marks and Appellations
of Places of Origin excludes sound and olfactor y marks from trademark protection.  Would the
Kyrgyz Republic consider allowing such mark s to be protected in line with the Community
Trademark Regulation?
9. Article 7 of the Law of the Kyrgyz Republic  on Trademarks, Service Marks and Appellations
of Places of Origin appears to afford priority rights only to those countries that are party to the ParisConvention for the Protection of Industrial Property.  Could the Kyrgyz Republic confirm that such
protection will be afforded to all WTO Members ?
10. Please clarify how Article 42 of the Law of the Kyrgyz Republic on Trademarks, Service
Marks and Appellations of Places of Origin applies to foreign natural or legal persons.
11. Please clarify how Article 36 of the Law of the Kyrgyz Republic on Trademarks, Service
Marks and Appellations of Places of Origin complies with Article 23.1 of the TRIPS Agreement.IP/C/W/158
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12. Please clarify if Article 5(3)(1) of the Law of the Kyrgyz Republic on Trademarks, Service
Marks and Appellations of Places of Origin is a ground for ex officio  refusal by the Kyrgyzpatent in
the sense of Article 23.2 of the TRIPS Agreement.
LATVIA
1. Please explain in detail how and through which provisions Latvia accords to the nationals of
other WTO Members treatment no less favourable than that which it accords to its own nationals in
compliance with Article 3 of the TRIPS Agreement in respect of the protection of works, producers of
phonograms, performers and broadcasting organizations.  Apart from the TRIPS Agreement, to what
other 'international agreements' do Articles 2, paragraph 4, and 49, paragraph 4, of the Law onCopyright and Neighbouring Rights refer?
2. Please explain in detail how and through which provisions Latvia restores the protection for
works, performers and producers of phonograms which, in their country of origin, have not yet fallen
into public domain in accordance with Articles 9, paragraph 1, and 14, paragraph 6, of the TRIPSAgreement in conjunction with Article 18 of the Berne Convention.
3. Please explain in detail how and through which provisions Latvia provides for the protection
of compilations of data as intellectual creations in accordance with Articles 9, paragraph 1, and 10,
paragraph 2, of the TRIPS Agreement.
4. Please explain in detail how and through which provisions Latvia provides for rental rights
for authors of computer programmes and cinematographic works and producers of phonograms in
accordance with Articles 11 and 14, paragraph 4, of the TRIPS Agreement.
5. Please confirm that the new draft law on copyright will provide for rental rights in accordance
with Articles 11 and 14 of the TRIPS Agreement.
6. Please confirm that the new draft law on copyright will provide for new effective cross-border
enforcement measures, including an obligation on Customs authorities to take ex officio  action against
cross-border trade, where prima facie evidence of copyright infringement has been acquired
(Article 58 of the TRIPS Agreement).
7. Please explain how Article 12(2) of the Latvian Law on Trademarks complies with
Article 18 of the TRIPS Agreement that provides for indefinite renewable registration.
8. Please clarify if the protection of Article 19(3) is granted only to registered well-known
trademarks.
9. Article 22(3)(2) of the Latvian law on Competition provides for unfair competition in the
form of trademarks misleading as to the origin  of the goods.  Please explain how it complies with
Article 22.3 of the TRIPS Agreement.
10. Please explain how the additional protection for geographical indications for wines and spirits
is provided in Latvia.
11. Please clarify what is non-registerable under Arti cle 2(2) of the Law on Trademarks in respect
to geographical indications.  Please explain how this article complies with Articles 22.3, 22.4, 23.1
and 23.2 of the TRIPS Agreement.IP/C/W/158
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12. Please explain how the requirement in Article 2, paragraph 7, stating "An invention shall be
considered as industrially applicable if the object of the invention may be manufactured or used in 
any field of the national economy" fulfils  the requirements of Article 27.1 of the TRIPS Agreement
that patents shall be available and patent rights enjoyable without discrimination as to the place of
invention.
13. Please explain whether or not non-biological processes are patentable in Latvia ?14. According to Article 28 of the TRIPS Agreement, a patent shall confer on its owner the
following exclusive rights: the right to prevent third parties not having the owner's consent from
making, using, offering for sale, selling, or importing for all these purposes that product or process.
15. Please explain how Article 30(1)(1)-(3) of the Latvian Patent Law complies with Article 28 ofthe TRIPS Agreement as it refers only to the exclusive rights to use the invention and not to the rights
of making, offering for sale, selling or importation.
16. Please explain how Article 30(3) of the Latvia n Patent Law complies with Article 28 of the
TRIPS Agreement.
17. Please explain how Article 32(2) of the Latv ian Patent Law complies with Article 27.1, 28
and 33 of the TRIPS Agreement.
18. Please explain how Article 39 of the Latvian Patent Law complies with Article 31 of the
TRIPS Agreement, in particular Article 31(b), (f) and (h) the TRIPS Agreement.
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