New Measures Taken by China Customs in IPR Protection

On May 30 and May 31, 2006, China's General Administration of Customs (GAC) promulgated its announcements No. 31 and No. 32 respectively, prescribing relevant provisions on the issues of general guarantee in customs protection and customs recordal applied by The Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG) for the slogan and the mascot of 2008 Olympic Games.

The Announcement No. 31 aims to facilitate the intellectual property right (IPR) holders to apply IPR protection to the customs by setting relevant provisions on the issue of general guarantee in customs protection. This announcement will be effective as of July 1, 2006. According to Article 14 of the Regulations of the People's Republic of China on customs Protection of Intellectual Property Rights and Article 22 of the Measures of the General Administration of customs of the People's Republic of China for the Implementation of the Regulation of the People's Republic of China on the customs Protection of Intellectual Property Rights, by law the IPR holders may provide general guarantee to the customs. This announcement provides regulations on the application, the amount, the period of validity and joint liability of the general guarantee.

As BOCOG's recent applications of the recordal for the slogan and the mascot of the XXIX Olympiad have been granted, the Announcement No. 32 indicates that according to the Regulations on the Protection of Olympic Symbols, the customs is entitled to investigate the import and export goods which do not obtain the consent of the right owners and therefore infringe the exclusive right of the above mentioned Olympic symbols.