OSCE Centre supports seminar on protection of intellectual property in Kazakhstan
ASTANA, 23 September 2013 – Some 40 Customs Control Officers representing all regions of Kazakhstan gathered today at a five-day National Seminar on Combating Counterfeiting and Pirated Products, supported by the OSCE Centre in Astana.
The Customs Control Committee of Kazakhstan and the World Customs Organization (WCO) co-organized the event with the support of the OSCE Centre in Astana and Japan Customs, to promote best practices and methods for identifying and limiting the access to counterfeit products at the borders.The seminar features WCO experts from Belgium, Japan and Great Britain, and representatives of multinational companies, such as GlaxoSmithKline, Unilever, Hewlett-Packard, Novartis, Procter & Gamble, Philip Morris, Toyota and Adidas.
The programme includes also a review of the maintenance of a unified customs register of intellectual property, risk indicators and international co-operation issues, improving the environment for recognizing genuine consumer goods.
“The concept of border security and border management was co-ordinated with all OSCE participating States in 2005, when they committed themselves to prevent and combat transnational organized crime, illegal migration, corruption and smuggling,” said Ambassador Natalia Zarudna, Head of the OSCE Centre in Astana.
”And that is why the customs authorities of all countries in the OSCE region are called upon to safeguard the public interest and prevent the trade of counterfeit and pirated products.”
“The Kazakhstan Customs Control Committee should enforce smooth implementation of the internationally recognized norms for relations between the owners and the users of intellectual property rights, during cross-border movement of goods that contain objects of intellectual property,” said Nurbolat Sukurov, Head of the WCO Regional Educational Centre in Astana.
The event is part of the joint effort of the OSCE Centre and the Republic of Kazakhstan Finance Ministry’s Customs Control Committee to promote good governance and trade facilitation in Kazakhstan.