RESTRICTED
WORLD TRADE IP/C/W/12/Add.3
13September 1995
ORGANIZATION(95-2568)
Original: French Council forTrade-Related Aspects
ofIntellectual Property Rights
TECHNICAL COOPERATION ACTIVITIES: INFORMATION FROM
DEVELOPED COUNTRY MEMBERS
Switzerland
Thisaddendum reproduces acommunication which hasbeenreceived fromthedelegation of
Switzerland inresponse totherequest bytheCouncil forTRIPS todeveloped country Members, as
agreed atitsmeeting of24May1995 (IP/C/M/2, paragraph 53),forinformation ontheirtechnical
andfinancial cooperation programmes intheareaofintellectual property relevant totheimplementation
oftheTRIPS Agreement.
_________________
I. PRELIMINARY REMARKS
A. Thisnoteislimited totechnical cooperation intheareaofintellectual property1,and
doesnotdiscuss thecooperation financed bySwitzerland inthebroader context of
GATT/WTO,suchasthetrainingprogrammesfordevelopingcountriesandthecountries
ofCentral andEastern Europe (administered byGATT/WTO). Itshould bepointed
outthatanygeneral training programme within theframework oftheWTO must
henceforth include asection ontheTRIPS Agreement.
B. Thisnotedoesnotcover cooperation provided exclusively anddirectly byprivate Swiss
organizations suchascompanies forthecollective management ofcopyright and
neighbouring rights, orbyprivate enterprises. Itdoes, however, cover cases where
theSwiss business community hasrequested thecooperation oftheSwiss authorities.
C. Article 67oftheTRIPS Agreement refers onlyto"developing andleast-developed
country Members". However, inorder tofacilitate future discussions ontechnical
cooperation andtoprovide anaccurate overview offinancial andhuman resources
inSwitzerland, itwasfeltthattechnical cooperation withthecountries" intheprocess
oftransformationfromacentrally-plannedintoamarketeconomy"(chieflythecountries
ofCentral andEastern Europe) should alsobedescribed.
1Situation uptoJuly1995.IP/C/W/12/Add.3
Page2
II. SWISS TECHNICAL COOPERATION INGENERAL
A. TheaimsofSwiss technical cooperation are:
(1) Todevelophumanresourcesthroughtheoreticalandpracticaltrainingconducted
either inSwitzerland orinthecountry thathasrequested technical cooperation,
inallfields ofintellectual property law(including enforcement ofrights,
registration procedures, technical aspects oflegislating andinternational law);
(2) toassistthirdcountriesincreatingandmodernizingintellectualpropertyoffices;
(3) tofacilitate inageneral waytheunderstanding, development, management
andutilization ofintellectual property systems;
(4) tofacilitate theexchange ofinformation ingeneral, andpatent information
inparticular;
(5) toprovide, targeted assistance onanadhocbasistoindividual enterprises or
inventors from thedeveloping countries.
B. TheSwiss contribution totechnical cooperation intheareaofintellectual property is
oftwotypes:
(1) Multilateral; and
(2) bilateral.
C. Swiss technical cooperation covers notonlythedeveloping countries, butalsothe
countries ofCentral andEastern Europe (including theCommonwealth ofIndependent
States).
D. Swiss technical cooperation isgeared tothepersonnel (management, senior staff) of
intellectual property offices, officials from other government bodies, representatives
ofthelegislative branch andpolitical circles, representatives ofeconomic circles, of
promotion anddevelopment organizations andofindividual enterprises, creators or
inventors.
E. Asarule,Swiss cooperation isfinanced:
(a) Through thegeneral budget oftheFederal Intellectual Property Office2(which
covers thecostofstaffassigned tocooperation programmes aswellasexpenses
connected withother miscellaneous activities);
(b) through credits granted bytheFederal Department (Ministry) ofForeign
Affairs, interaliathrough theDirectorate ofDevelopment Cooperation and
Humanitarian Aid;
(c) through credits granted bytheFederal Department ofJustice andPolice;
2TheFederal Intellectual Property Office isunder theresponsibility oftheFederal Department ofJustice
andPolice.IP/C/W/12/Add.3
Page3
(d) onalessregular basis, through credits granted bytheFederal Office ofForeign
Economic Affairs.3
F. Technicalassistancethroughtheprovisionofservices(trainingofpersonnel,assignment
ofexperts tospecific projects, seminars, information exchange, etc.)isgenerally
preferred to"direct" financing (direct granting ofcredits orsupply ofoffice computer
equipment, forexample).
G. Apart from theexceptions mentioned below, Swiss cooperation isprovided, in
substance ,principally bytheFederal Intellectual Property Office withtheactive
cooperation, incertain cases, ofinterested circles (industry, collective management
companies) orofother federal offices. Theorganization andfollow-up ofplanned
activitiesinconnectionwithprojectsfinancedbytheSwissauthoritieshave,onoccasion,
beenentrusted toprivate orsemi-private institutions; however, suchcases remain
exceptional.
H. Technical cooperation provided bytheFederal Intellectual Property Office covers not
onlyallaspects ofindustrial property (patents, trademarks, geographical indications,
industrial designs, layouts (topographies) ofintegrated circuits), butalsocopyright
andneighbouring rights.
III. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OFSWISS TECHNICAL COOPERATION
A. Geographical scope
Multilateral Swiss technical cooperation isgeared towards thedeveloping countries,
inparticular theleast-developed countries. Since 1990, ithasbeenextended tothe
countries ofCentral andEastern Europe.
Inorder toprovide thebestpossible training, teaching andinformation arepreferably
provided bytheFederal Intellectual Property Office inFrench orinGerman (twoof
theofficial languages ofSwitzerland). AsGerman islesscommonly usedworldwide,
formany years thechoice felltothecountries ofFrench-speaking Africa. Over the
pastdecade, ithasbeenpossible toprovide instruction inEnglish aswell,adevelopment
which hasresulted inanextension ofthegeographical scope oftechnical cooperation
(Eastern andCentral Europe, South-East Asia). Asarule,short training programmes
areusually provided inEnglish, while thelonger programmes (onemonth, forexample)
tendtobeprovided inFrench. Ithasalsobeenpossible, insome cases, toprovide
technicalcooperationinRussianandSpanish.InstructionhasbeenprovidedinGerman,
inexceptional cases forcertain developing countries, andonseveral occasions forthe
countries ofCentral andEastern Europe.
B. Multilateral cooperation
Twoorganizations haveserved astheprincipal foraforSwiss development assistance
intheareaofintellectualproperty:theWorldIntellectualPropertyOrganization(WIPO)
inGeneva, andtheEuropean Patent Office (EPO) inMunich.
3TheFederal Office ofForeign Economic Affairs isunder theresponsibility oftheFederal Department of
thePublic Economy.IP/C/W/12/Add.3
Page4
1. Cooperation withWIPO
TheWIPO cooperation programme isapproved byitsmember States, including Switzerland.
WIPO hasaverywiderange ofcooperation activities, among which Switzerland participates inthe
following:
(a) Regular WIPO training programme: Thisprogramme consists oftraining courses
organized byWIPO. Certain countries ororganizations agree tofinance, inpartor
infull,travel andliving expenses forthetrainees. Thus, every year,Switzerland funds
thetraining oftwopersons from thedeveloping countries ortheleast-developed
countries ingeneral.
Thecourses lasttwomonths, generally organized asfollows: oneweek inGeneva
andatWIPO Headquarters, three weeks attheCentre fortheInternational Study of
Intellectual Property (CEIPI) inStrasbourg andfourweeks attheFederal Intellectual
Property Office inBerne. Travel andliving expenses aswellasthetraining expenses
inSwitzerland attheFederal Intellectual Property Office arefinanced infullbythe
Swiss authorities (Directorate ofDevelopment Cooperation andHumanitarian Aid).
Theteaching andinstruction provided attheFederal Intellectual Property Office cover
allareas ofintellectual property, including international law.Overthepastfewyears,
attherequest ofcertain trainees, emphasis hasalsobeen placed ontheTRIPS
Agreement.
Switzerland hasparticipated inthisannual training programme since 1964. Over the
years, thefollowing countries hadbeenabletobenefit fromtheprogramme, insome
cases several times (thecountries ofFrench-speaking Africa inparticular): Argentina,
Benin, Burundi, Cameroon, Chile, Colombia, Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Egypt, Iran,
Madagascar, Mali, Morocco, Mauritania, Niger, Peru, Philippines, Rwanda, Senegal,
Chad,Togo,VietnamandZaire.TheAfricanIntellectualPropertyOrganization(AIPO)
isalsoamong thebeneficiaries oftheprogramme.
(b) Adhoctraining courses: Inaddition totheprogramme described inSection (a)above,
theFederal Intellectual Property Office hasalsoorganized training courses forexperts
lasting onetotwoweeks, attherequest ofthecountries concerned andWIPO. These
courses werefinanced bytheFederal Department oftheJustice andPolice within the
framework ofassistance tothecountries ofCentral andEastern Europe.
(c) Information and/or training visits: Every year, attherequest ofWIPO, Switzerland
receivesdelegationsofexpertsatalllevelsfromthedevelopingcountriesorthecountries
ofCentral andEastern Europe. Thevisits lastoneortwodays, andtheirpurpose
istodemonstrate thestructure andoperation oftheFederal Intellectual Property Office,
including mechanisms fortheexamination ofapplications forprotection aswellas
administrative andfinancial matters typical ofanintellectual property office. Allareas
ofintellectual property arecovered. Overthepastfewyears, attherequest ofcertain
delegations, emphasis hasalsobeenputontheTRIPS Agreement and/or European
intellectual property lawasawhole.
(d) Sending ofexperts toindustrial property offices: Generally inresponse torequests
fortechnical assistance inmodernizing offices andimproving theefficiency of
registration, examination andsearch procedures, theSwiss authorities may, in
exceptional circumstances, grant special credits tofinance thesending ofSwiss experts
(forexample, toreconstitute collections ofpatent documents destroyed astheresult
ofanatural disaster).IP/C/W/12/Add.3
Page5
(e) Participation intheseminars andcourses organized, including theWIPO Academy:
thisactivity involves classes orlectures given byexperts seconded bytheSwiss Federal
Administration. Allareas ofintellectual property arecovered.
(f) Free-of-charge searches inconnection withpatent applications filedbycitizens of
developing countries: requests forassistance aresubmitted bycitizens ofdeveloping
countries andtransmitted byWIPO totheFederal Intellectual Property Office, which
carries out,freeofcharge, asearch onthestate-of-the-art withrespect totheinvention
forwhich apatent hasbeenrequested. Thistypeoftechnical assistance ismotivated
bythefactthatsuchsearches areusually verycostly. TheFederal Intellectual Property
Office conducts anaverage of60to70searches peryear. Switzerland isoneofthe
ninecountries intheworld toprovide thisspecial typeofassistance (information for
1994).
(2) Cooperation withtheEPO
Inthiscase, technical cooperation activities concern patents only. Thebudget fortheEPOs
activities isapproved bythemember States, including Switzerland.
TheEPOhasitsownprogramme, butalsoworks within theframework oftheprogrammes
financed bytheEuropean Union (e.g. theASEAN project andtheRegional Industrial Property
Programme (RIPP) intheframework ofthePHARE programme).
(a) Practical training attheFederal Intellectual Property Office asasupplement tothe
training provided bytheEPO: living expenses arefinanced bytheEPO, foraperiod
ranging from afewdaystoseveral weeks. Itisdesigned forparticipants bothfrom
thedeveloping countries andfrom thecountries ofCentral andEastern Europe.
(b) Sending ofSwiss experts withprecise mandates inthefieldofcooperation: suchexperts
aresentinresponse torequests made within theframework oftheRIPP programme
ortheASEAN project.
C. Bilateral cooperation
Bilateral cooperation isanimportant aspect ofSwiss technical cooperation inthefieldof
intellectual property. Formany countries, thiscooperation isalsoconducted within theframework
ofbilateral agreements concluded withSwitzerland. Ithasdeveloped particularly rapidly overthe
lastfewyears, especially withrespect tothecountries ofCentral andEastern Europe.
(1) Types ofcooperation activities: Asarule,theseactivities aresimilar tothose described
within theframework ofWIPO. Requests forinformation visits arenumerous.
Inaddition, experts areseconded forcooperation activities thatarelessfrequent but
justasimportant, suchaschairing commissions fortheexamination offuture patent
engineers. Requests havealsobeenmade forassistance intheorganization ofevents
other thanseminars withaviewtoincreasing general public awareness (invention and
other exhibitions).
Training courses lastonetotwoweeks andcover allareas ofintellectual property,
including enforcement ofrights andinternational law. Over thepastfewyears, at
therequest ofcertain delegations, emphasis hasbeenplaced ontheTRIPS Agreement
and/or Switzerland 'sexperience inthefieldofEuropean law.IP/C/W/12/Add.3
Page6
Thecourses aregenerally designed forofficials fromindustrial property offices. The
Swiss authorities havealsofinanced training programmes geared totheprivate sector
(industry, patent engineers, university professors), entrusting private orsemi-private
institutions withtheorganization oftheprogrammes; however, suchcases remain
exceptional.
(2) Financing: Bilateral cooperation forthebenefit ofthedeveloping countries hasbeen
funded bytheDirectorate ofDevelopment Cooperation andHumanitarian Aid.
Thefinancing ofbilateral cooperation withtheCentral andEastern European countries
hasbeenprovided through special credits voted bytheSwiss Parliament. Thetraining
courses organized bytheFederal Intellectual Property Office, forexample, were
financed through credits allocated totheFederal Department ofJustice andPolice,
theFederal Department ofForeign Affairs andtheFederal Office ofForeign Economic
Affairs.
IV. CONCLUDING REMARKS
Swisstechnicalcooperationhascoveredalmostallregionsoftheworld,afactwhichisillustrated
bythefollowing list(notexhaustive) ofthecountries andregional organizations thatparticipated in
oneorseveral oftheactivities described above:
Albania, Algeria, Argentina, Belarus, Benin, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burundi, Cameroon,
Chad, Chile, China, Colombia, Congo, Côted'Ivoire, Croatia, Cuba, Czech Republic,
Democratic People 'sRepublic ofKorea, Egypt, Estonia, Georgia, Greece, Hungary,
India, Indonesia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Laos, Latvia, Lithuania, Madagascar, Mali,
Mauritania,Morocco,Niger,Peru,Philippines,RepublicofMoldova,Poland,Portugal,
Republic ofKorea, Romania, Russian Federation, Rwanda, Senegal, Singapore,
Slovakia, Slovenia, SriLanka, Thailand, Togo, Ukraine, United ArabEmirates, United
RepublicofTanzania,Vietnam,ZaireandtheAfricanIntellectualPropertyOrganisation
(AIPO).
Swiss technical cooperation inthefieldofintellectual property isbased onalongtradition
ofinternational cooperation. Itfocuses, inparticular, onthetransfer ofknow-how, thesharing of
experienceandinformation,thecreationofsynergies,andtheimprovementoftheconditionsforeffective
andfullparticipation ofcountries intheworld economy andthestrengthening ofthemultilateral
framework ofintellectual property law.