By Kofi Ahovi
A National Intellectual Property Policy Committee (NIPPC) and Technical Coordination Group charged with the mandate to establish national Intellectual Property Policy development have been inaugurated.
The committees are to enable formal exchange of information on annual basis, provide strategic guidance to ensure that Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) operate in line with the country's development trend.
They are also to ensure the provision of transfer of technology among key stakeholders on operations of IPR, create avenue for innovation to enhance productivity and facilitate trade and industrial competitiveness.
The committees under the supervision of Ministry of Trade (MOTI) and the Ministry of Justice and Attorney General's Department, were initiated through the Government's Trade Sector Support Programme.
According to the Minister of Trade, Hannah Tetteh, who inaugurated the committees, the move is to ensure that the practice conforms to international best practices.
The Government of Switzerland through the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) is funding the project.
The committees are made up of representatives from MOTI, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Food and Agriculture, National Commission on Culture, Association of Ghana Industries, Institute of Industrial Research, Copyright Office, University of Ghana’s Faculty of Law, and Ministry of Health.
Others are National Board for Small Scale Industries, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Customs Excise and Preventive Service, Ministry of Science and Technology, Ministry of Justice, Ghana Police Service, Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Food and Drugs Board.
The rest are Ghana Chamber of Commerce, National Planning Development Commission, Ghana Consumer Association, Registrar General's Department and Musicians Union of Ghana.
The trade minister assured of Ghana’s readiness to take advantage of IPR over products and services unique to the country in its quest to maximise the gains from international trade.
"We ought to be in the business of identifying these products and the scale of the opportunities and strategies to maximise the potential gains from them and getting value," she noted.
Representative of the Swiss Government, Ingo Meitinger, said the project was to ensure that National Intellectual Property Policy was articulated, explore avenues for enactment of legislation in all areas of the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement and make it fully operational, updated and completed.
The project also has a component for increasing public awareness and understanding of intellectual property issues, continuous sensitisation of the Judiciary on intellectual property issues, establishment of efficient automated industrial property management system and institutionalisation of electronic Copyright Register
A National Intellectual Property Policy Committee (NIPPC) and Technical Coordination Group charged with the mandate to establish national Intellectual Property Policy development have been inaugurated.
The committees are to enable formal exchange of information on annual basis, provide strategic guidance to ensure that Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) operate in line with the country's development trend.
They are also to ensure the provision of transfer of technology among key stakeholders on operations of IPR, create avenue for innovation to enhance productivity and facilitate trade and industrial competitiveness.
The committees under the supervision of Ministry of Trade (MOTI) and the Ministry of Justice and Attorney General's Department, were initiated through the Government's Trade Sector Support Programme.
According to the Minister of Trade, Hannah Tetteh, who inaugurated the committees, the move is to ensure that the practice conforms to international best practices.
The Government of Switzerland through the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) is funding the project.
The committees are made up of representatives from MOTI, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Food and Agriculture, National Commission on Culture, Association of Ghana Industries, Institute of Industrial Research, Copyright Office, University of Ghana’s Faculty of Law, and Ministry of Health.
Others are National Board for Small Scale Industries, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Customs Excise and Preventive Service, Ministry of Science and Technology, Ministry of Justice, Ghana Police Service, Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Food and Drugs Board.
The rest are Ghana Chamber of Commerce, National Planning Development Commission, Ghana Consumer Association, Registrar General's Department and Musicians Union of Ghana.
The trade minister assured of Ghana’s readiness to take advantage of IPR over products and services unique to the country in its quest to maximise the gains from international trade.
"We ought to be in the business of identifying these products and the scale of the opportunities and strategies to maximise the potential gains from them and getting value," she noted.
Representative of the Swiss Government, Ingo Meitinger, said the project was to ensure that National Intellectual Property Policy was articulated, explore avenues for enactment of legislation in all areas of the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement and make it fully operational, updated and completed.
The project also has a component for increasing public awareness and understanding of intellectual property issues, continuous sensitisation of the Judiciary on intellectual property issues, establishment of efficient automated industrial property management system and institutionalisation of electronic Copyright Register
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