Intellectual property rights protection is critical for creating a good business environment. Office of Cracking Down on Counterfeit Products published the Report of the Latest Progress on IPR Protection and Business Environment, which systematically showcased the efforts and achievements of China on IPR protection in recent years.
This report, published by the National Head Office of Crackdown on IPR Infringements and the Production and Sale of Counterfeit and Shoddy Commodities, utilizing a large amount of evidence and examples and engaging in discussion of legal regimes, administrative law enforcement, judiciary protection, strategic planning, international cooperation and business environment, introduced the achievement and advancement in IPR protection and business environment establishment of China in recent years.
In terms of establishment of legal regimes, more than 10 legal regulations had been amended and penal compensation policy was included in IPR for the first time. In terms of administrative law enforcement, more than 170 specialized operations were conducted, which reinforced the regulation in online domain, rural market and import and export processes, and intensified the protection on IPR such right to trademarks, copyright, and patent right. In terms of strategic planning, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council introduced a series of policy documents that strengthened IPR protection, placing IPR and other intangible assets on the status of tangible assets; in terms of international cooperation, the bilateral dialogues between China and the US and China and Europe had been deepened, while cross-border legal operations were conducted with countries including the US, Europe, Russia, Japan and Korea, solving hundreds of cases of various kinds.
The establishment of business environment in China has obtained substantial achievements. Up to June 2017, the State Council canceled or delegated more than 40% of the administrative examination items, and the non-administrative permission examination was fully terminated. In terms of openness, the number of restrictive measures in the Catalogue for Guiding Foreign Investment Enterprises were reduced from 180 to 63, and the time schedules and route diagrams were specified for the opening of many fields, including the manufacturing of special vehicles and new energy vehicles.
The report pointed out that IPR protection is a global issue. As the largest developing country, China has a long way to go in establishing IPR protection regimes and boosting the overall awareness of IPR in its society. China will conduct strict IPR protection, and, following the customary international principals, prevent and suppress exploitive use of IPR.
Gao Feng, the spokesman of the Ministry of Commerce expressed that China firmly reject the unilateralism and protectionism adopted by certain countries and will continue to strengthen the establishment of business environment, in order to effectively protect the multilateral trading mechanism and contribute to the global economic development.
