China

Since China’s new e-commerce law took effect on 1 January 2019, legislation has been developing around its implementation. The law covers all e-commerce activities, both domestic and cross-border, reflecting the growth of the sector. Issues around the online trade of goods and services and innovation in IP protection have become an important part of the EU’s and China’s economic, legislative and public security agenda.

On 25 September, Mr Shen Changyu, Commissioner of the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) and Mr Christian Archambeau, Executive Director of the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) held a virtual high-level meeting to discuss IP cooperation matters, namely to review the state of play of the bilateral cooperation activities with CNIPA, the IP Key China project implementation as well as the cooperation within the TM5 and ID5 forums.

Following up on the discussions and engagement established during the EU-China online workshops that took place in November, IP Key China in cooperation with CAASA (the China Anti-infringement and Anti-counterfeiting Innovation Strategic Alliance) organised an offline seminar on IPR protection online and innovation. The seminar expanded on the topics discussed during the webinars.

Today, the EU and China signed a bilateral agreement to protect 100 European Geographical Indications (GIs) in China and 100 Chinese GIs in the European Union against usurpation and imitation. This agreement, first concluded in November 2019, should bring reciprocal trade benefits as well as introducing consumers to guaranteed, quality products on both sides.