Indonesia and EU discuss intellectual property in trade deal negotiations
The Star - 02 March 2024
Indonesia and EU discuss intellectual property in trade deal negotiations
Indonesia’s Ministry of Law and Human Rights discussed the intellectual property (IP) chapter during the 17th Round of Negotiations of the Indonesia-European Union Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (IEU-CEPA) Working Group on Intellectual Property (WGIP).
Head of Foreign Cooperation at the ministry’s Directorate General of Intellectual Property, Marchienda Werdany, said that the discussion aimed to ensure the intellectual property protection system in both Indonesia and the EU so as to give legal certainty to economic players, reported ANTARA news agency.
"There are still two rounds of negotiations. The Ministry of Trade is targetting that by July 2024, they would have been completed and continued by signing by leaders of each country," she said in a statement from her office on Friday.
Werdany said that several proposals from the EU were the focus of the forum, including those regarding the protection of medicinal product data, the duration of the protection period for industrial designs, as well as genetic resources and traditional knowledge.
IEU-CEPA is a form of trade cooperation between Indonesia and the EU that is focused on several intellectual property issues. The 17th round of IEU-CEPA negotiations was held in Bandung, West Java, from February 26 to March 1.
Meanwhile, a representative from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Aldamayo Panadjam Panjaitan, said that Indonesia used the negotiation round to strengthen its position.
"In this new counter proposal, we observed that the European Union has started to accommodate Indonesia’s interests, and in this negotiation, we want to sharpen Indonesia’s position to be more suitable," he added.
He expressed optimism that the negotiation would result in an agreement between Indonesia and the EU and realize mutually beneficial economic cooperation for the two parties.
Earlier, Deputy Minister of Trade Jerry Sambuaga stated that the IEU-CEPA negotiations are expected to be completed in 2024 before the change in government.
The EU is one of Indonesia’s main trade partners. In 2022, the total value of the bilateral trade between Indonesia and the EU reached US$33.2 billion. The same year, Indonesia’s exports to the EU reached US$21.5 billion, while its imports from the EU stood at US$11.7 billion.
