PRODUCT LABELLING LAW – “ON MEASURES AGAINST THE SALE OF CERTAIN PRODUCTS MANUFACTURED IN CONTRAVENTION OF LAWS OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION”

November - December 2007

In fall 2007, Russian State Duma Deputies introduced a draft law that would require products from several consumer and industry sectors to have barcode labels to help distinguish legitimate products from counterfeits. A similar approach was used to label alcohol beverage products that resulted in lower sales and higher consumer costs, with no measurable reduction in the traffic of fake alcohol beverage goods in the marketplace.

CIPR representatives organized a coalition of consumer groups, affected industry sectors, business and IP organizations to raise concerns about the draft law to government officials. The coalition sent letters to Prime Minister Zubkov and State Duma Speaker Gryzlov expressing their concerns about this flawed approach to product counterfeiting. Shortly thereafter, Speaker Gryzlov and other key legislators dropped their support for the draft law. However, despite this, the draft bill was still carried over to the 2008 legislative session.

The draft bill is currently under review by the Russian government. The Ministry of Economic Development and Trade and the Ministry of Finance have issued negative opinions on the draft bill, but the Ministry of Justice gave it a positive review. Our coalition is seeking to remove the product labeling bill from the list of bills for consideration by the State Duma in 2008.

PART IV OF THE CIVIL CODE OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION

Trademark Protection Amendments to Part IV of the Civil Code Submitted to IP Experts Council

July 2007

CIPR and other rights holders organizations submitted trademark protection amendments to the RF IP Experts Council for Part IV of the Civil Code that would bring it into compliance with TRIPS and international treaty obligations and norms. The Experts Council is comprised of private and public sector IP experts, including CIPR representatives, and officially tasked with preparing legislative amendments for consideration by the Russian government. CIPR continues to advocate for the introduction of this legislation to the State Duma.

US-RUSSIA BILATERAL AGREEMENT SIGNED

November 2006

President Putin and President Bush signed the US-Russia Bilateral Agreement on trade and to continue negotiations on Russia’s WTO accession. The Agreement committed Russia to bringing Part IV of the Civil Code and all other outstanding IP legislation into compliance with TRIPS and international treaty obligations before Russia can accede to the WTO. CIPR, in collaboration with a coalition of Russian and international IP, business and consumer organizations, pledged to continue working with Russian lawmakers to amend Part IV of the Civil Code and conclude other outstanding IP protection issues as set forth in the IP Side Letter of the US-Russia Bilateral Agreement.

RUSSIA PROPOSES NEW CIVIL CODE

March 2006

CIPR has been actively lobbying and working with rightsholders to protest the Russian Government’s new proposed IPR legislation, Part Four of the Civil Code, which has been prepared for submission into the RF State Duma. This draft would annul all special intellectual property rights laws, including the Law on Copyrights and Neighboring Rights, the Law on Trademarks, Service Marks and Appellations of Origins of Goods. The law was prepared by a group of lawyers, without preliminary consultations or agreement from those who the law is supposed to protect — rightsholders. More