Thanks to the launch of the National Intellectual Property Authority and the adoption of the Law of Ukraine “On Copyright and Related Rights”, Ukraine achieved significant progress in the field of intellectual property in the reporting period. This is stated in the historical report of the European Commission on Ukraine’s progress within the framework of the Enlargement Package, which was published today.

The European Commission recommended that the Council of the EU start negotiations on Ukraine’s accession to the European Union.

A separate chapter in the Report of the European Commission (Ukraine 2023 Report) is devoted to intellectual property.

The Report states that the Law of Ukraine, “On Copyright and Related Rights”, adopted in December 2022, aims at legislative alignment with the EU copyright acquis, and the IPR enforcement. The legislation of Ukraine on inventions and utility models of 2020, which incorporated the EU standards of legal protection of inventions and utility models into national legislation, is not fully aligned with the EU acquis. The subsequent implementing rules still need to be adopted. Ukraine’s legislation also includes EU standards on the legal protection of designs.

Ukraine needs to further align its domestic legislation with the EU acquis on compulsory licensing and the respective Protocol amending the World Trade Organization’s Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights.

Ukraine’s Law on IPR enforcement is broadly aligned with the EU acquis. However, shortcomings remain in combating piracy and counterfeit goods, as Ukraine remains one of the four main transit points for shipments into the EU of counterfeit products.

The Report also specifies that, following the adoption of the IPR institutional reform in 2020, the Ukrainian National Office for Intellectual Property and Innovations is the new institution responsible for intellectual property and has been operational since November 2022. It functions as the National Intellectual Property Office and as the coordination platform for dialogue on intellectual property rights with all stakeholders. The agency has been promoting the strengthening of institutional capacity through training courses. It developed a closer collaboration with the World Intellectual Property Organisation and the European Union Intellectual Property Office, with which it signed in 2021 a Memorandum of Understanding to enhance technical cooperation.

The Report also states that the Law on judiciary and status of judges from 2016 provides for the establishment of an intellectual property court. However, the appointment of the 21 judges is pending, as the High Qualification Commission of Judges remained non-operational until 2022.

In the coming year, Ukraine should, in particular:

• continue alignment with the EU acquis on copyright and industrial property rights, as well as on trade secrets;
• continue improving the functioning of collective management organisations and the payment of royalties to right holders;
• further improve the IPR enforcement system, in particular by combating piracy and counterfeit products and establishing an intellectual property court and leverage the collaboration with the European Union Intellectual Property Office.

For information:

Every year, the European Commission adopts the Enlargement Package, which essentially is a set of documents that outline the policy for the further enlargement of the EU. In 2023, Ukraine was first added to the Enlargement Package as a candidate country for EU membership.

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