About Project

Project goal:

Harmonization of standards of protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights in Serbia with EU best practice. The project will help the Republic of Serbia to align its legislation and practice with the acquis communautaire in the field of protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights. Also, the project will contribute to strengthening the capacities of Serbian institutions responsible for the protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights at a level that will benefit both domestic companies and foreign investors.

Twinning is a close partnership between the administrations of an EU Candidate Country and one or more EU Member States. Twinning projects aim at assisting Candidate Countries, during the accession process, to harmonize their procedures to European standards best practice.

The objective of this Twinning Project is to improve the protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights (IPR) in Serbia and to align the Serbian IPR protection and enforcement approach to European standards.

The lead partners in this project are the Serbian Ministry of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications – Market Inspection sector and the Danish Patent and Trademark Office (DKPTO), in collaboration with the Deutsche Stiftung for Internationale Rechtliche Zusammenarbeit e.v . (IRZ) from Germany that are engaged as junior partner in the project.

Other institutions from Serbia participating in the Project are: Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development - Intellectual Property Office, Ministry of the Interior, Ministry of Finance – Customs Administration and Tax Administration, Ministry of Health - Medicines and Medical Devices Inspectorate, and the Republic Public Prosecutor’s Office.

The Project will focus on institution building, legal and regulatory alignment, capacity building and awareness raising.

In order to obtain EU membership, the national legislation of Serbia needs to be aligned with the current EU legislation. Efforts will be put into strengthening the legal framework which will serve as a basis for conducting Internet investigations and more efficient tackling of new IPR infringement-related challenges. 

Efforts will be put into strengthening the legal framework which will serve as a basis for conducting Internet investigations and more efficient tackling of new IPR infringement-related challenges.

 Enhancing the public awareness about the risk and dangers related to purchase of counterfeited products is of vital importance.

Awareness raising activities will be prepared and implemented within the framework of this Project with a view to intensifying the provision of information to the public about the importance of IPR protection and harmful effects of counterfeiting and piracy.