Industrial design rights in the European Union of industrial design rights is required by the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS, Arts. 25 & 26), to which the European Union is a party. The Regulation on Community designs provides for the recognition of the priority date of an application for design right registration in a country which is either a member of the World Trade Organization or a party to the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property. On 1 January 2008, the European Union became a party to the Geneva Act of the Hague Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Industrial Designs
Criticism of the World Trade Organization of protection is proved, for example, by the fact that cartels like the OPEC have never been involved in trade disputes with the WTO, despite the evident contrast between their objectives. The actions and methods of the World Trade Organization evoke strong antipathies. Among other things, the WTO is accused of widening the social gap between rich and poor it claims to be fixing. UNCTAD estimates that the market distortions cost the developing countries $700 billion annually in lost export revenue. Martin Khor argues that the WTO does not manage the global economy impartially, but in its operation has a