WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONIP/C/W/306/Add.5
25 October 2001
(01-5243)
Council for Trade-Related Aspects of
Intellectual Property RightsOriginal:  French
TECHNICAL COOPERATION ACTIVITIES:
INFORMATION FROM MEMBER COUNTRIES1
Addendum
MOROCCO
Information on Morocco's technical and financial cooperation activities relevant to the
implementation of the TRIPS Agreement has been received from the Permanent Mission of the
Kingdom of Morocco in a communication dated 18 September 2001.  The present document
reproduces this information.
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I. ACTIVITIES RELATED TO THE PROTECTION OF INDUSTRIAL PROPERTY
The Moroccan Trade and Industrial Property Office (OMPIC) has in recent years developed
considerably, more particularly in structural and organizational terms.
Its management tools have also been modernized with a new information system known as
the Trade and Industrial Property Information System (SIPIC), which makes for better management of
the various trade and industrial property titles.
OMPIC's development efforts have improved the calibre of the services for users of the
National Trade and Industrial Property System.
OMPIC has been regarded by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) as a lead
office in the Arab world.  Moreover, WIPO has designated OMPIC as an industrial property training
office for Arab and African offices.
OMPIC therefore provides major technical assistance to these countries in developing human
resources by organizing industrial property traini ng courses for executives from Arab and African
offices.
OMPIC has hosted more than 20 training sessions for various Arab and African countries
which have benefited from training in industrial property rights management and have scrutinized the
national system, the organization of the office and the latest legislative developments in this
                                                     
1 The TRIPS Council agreed at its meeting on 18-22 June 2001 that Members which are not developed
country Members and provide technical cooperation are also encouraged to share information on their activities
if they so wish (document IP/C/M/32, paragraph 58).IP/C/W/306/Add.5
Page 2
connection, more particularly the introduction of a new law, Law No. 17/97 on industrial property
protection.
The Arab and African countries concerned incl ude Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Djibouti,
Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Egypt, Jordan, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Palestine, Sudan, Syria,Tunisia and Yemen. Heads of national liaison offices with the African Intellectual Property
Organization (OAPI) have also received this training.
II. ACTIVITIES RELATED TO THE PROTECTION OF NEW VARIETIES OF
PLANTS
Well before the enactment of Law 9-94 on the protection of new varieties of plants, the
departments of the Ministry of Agriculture kept a national selected seed catalogue.  Most of therequisite analyses for implementing Law 9-94 were therefore used for seed certification.  This
experience had thus been gained by the competent Moroccan authorities some decades ago.
Therefore Morocco has, since 1995, organized six training workshops for Arab and African
countries, including Benin, Chad, Egypt, Mauritania and Tunisia.  The training has, in particular, beenon methods of conducting tests for differentiation, homogeneity and stability of plant varieties.
It should be noted that Morocco provided this training well before the WTO was established
(see the annexed tables).IP/C/W/306/Add.5
Page 3
ANNEX
ACTIVITIES RELATED TO THE PROTECTION OF NEW VARIETIES OF PLANTS
Table 1.  Moroccan Department of Agriculture activities in plant identification and certification.2
Year Activity
1985 Formulation of a draft national seed plan in Burundi (DHS and seed certification)
1989 Consultation in Egypt:  study of the seed production and monitoring system in Egypt
(DHS and seed certification)
1990 Consultation on DHS and seed monitoring and certification in the People's Democratic
Republic of Yemen
1993 Conducting a training course on DHS and quality control and certification of seeds and
plants in Cotonou, Benin
1997 Identification and description of potato varieties and production in Egypt
1998 DHS test methods for grains in Egypt
1999 Identification and description of grain varieties in Egypt
2000 DHS test methods for pulses in Egypt
2001 Identification and description of varieties of pulses in Egypt
Table 2.  Summary of courses given by the Moroccan Department of Agriculture1 in plant
identification and certification.
Year Number and origin of
candidatesTraining
1988 - 89 11 Egyptians
1 Guinean
1 YemeniDHS and seed certification
1989 - 90 16 representatives of
15 countries in Africa and the
Middle EastIn collaboration with ICARDA on DHS and
seed production and certification of seeds
1989 - 90 7 Egyptians
7 Libyans
1 YemeniDHS and field control
Electrophoresis laboratory analysis
1990 - 91 6 Egyptians DHS and seed certification
1991 - 92 3 Egyptians DHS and seed certification
1992 - 93 4 Egyptians DHS
1993 - 94 1 Mauritanian DHS
1994 - 95 1 Beninese
1 ChadianPlant identification (DHS)
1995 - 96 1 Beninese
4 EgyptiansDHS and seed certification
1996 – 97 2 Tunisians
2 EgyptiansDHS of plants  (fruit trees)
DHS and seed certification
                                                     
2 Seed and Plant Monitoring Service/Directorat e of Plant Protection, Technical Controls and
Suppression of Fraud.IP/C/W/306/Add.5
Page 4
1997 – 98 2 Egyptians DHS test methods
1998 – 99 7 Egyptians DHS and seed certification
1998 – 99 20 representatives from
7 francophone countriesIn collaboration with ICARDA on DHS and
seed production and certification
Note: DHS = Differentiation, Homogeneity and Stability
ICARDA = International Center for Agricultural Research for the Dry Areas (Aleppo, Syria)
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