RESTRICTED
WORLD TRADE WT/ACC/SAU/22
23September 1997
ORGANIZATION(97-3862)
Working Party ontheAccession Original: English
oftheKingdom ofSaudi Arabia
ACCESSION OFTHE KINGDOM OFSAUDI ARABIA
Communication from Saudi Arabia
TheMinistry ofCommerce oftheKingdom ofSaudi Arabia hassubmitted thefollowing
background paper onTRIPS.
_______________
I. INTRODUCTION
1. Theintellectual property regime oftheKingdom ofSaudi Arabia wasdescribed indocument
WT/ACC/SAU/5, paragraphs 1to35.
2. TheKingdom ofSaudi Arabia hasexisting legislation onCopyrights, Trademarks andPatents.
Protection forgeographical indications isprovided under theTrade Marks LawoftheKingdom. There
isnolegislation atpresent onIndustrial Designs, Plant Varieties, andLayout Designs ofIntegrated
Circuits. Theexisting legislation onprotection ofUndisclosed Information andonControl of
Anti-CompetitivePracticesinContractualLicensesisinanelementaryfrom,andnotdetailedlegislation.
3. TheKingdom ofSaudi Arabia doeshaveprocedures forenforcement ofintellectual property
laws, asdescribed inparagraphs 27to33ofWT/ACC/SAU/5. However, thelegislation andprocedures
arenotdetailed enough andcomprehensive enough tomeettherequirements ofPartIIIoftheTRIPS
Agreement.
4. Detailed information onSaudi Arabia ’sintellectual property lawsandtheirenforcement was
furnished inresponse tothefollowing questions:
- document L/7645/Add.1 replies toquestions 229to254;
- document WT/ACC/SAU/6/Add.3 replies toquestions 3to21;
- document WT/ACC/SAU/8 replies toquestions 112to128;
- document WT/ACC/SAU/10 replies toquestions 1to14;
- document WT/ACC/SAU/13/Add.1 replies toquestions 161to188.
II. FLEXIBILITY INTHE APPLICATION OFTHE TRIPS AGREEMENT
5. Attheconclusion ofthethirdmeeting oftheWorking Party ontheAccession ofSaudi Arabia
totheWTO, theChairman oftheWorking Party inhisconcluding remarks hadobserved:
"[The nextmeeting oftheWorking Party] would carry outafocused review of...trade-related
aspects ofintellectual property rights, anareainwhich theGovernment ofSaudi Arabia would
beexpected toprovide apaper identifying andjustifying anytransitional arrangements they
mayseekinorder toimplement theAgreement".WT/ACC/SAU/22
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6. Thefollowing paragraphs provide anidentification andjustification fortransitional arrangement
fortheapplication oftheTRIPS Agreement.
III. AREAS WHERE EXISTING LEGISLATION HAS TOBEREVISED
7. TheGovernment oftheKingdom ofSaudi Arabia iscarrying outadetailed study oftheexisting
intellectual property legislation (copyrights, trademarks, patents andgeographical indications) soas
tofigure outinwhatrespects theexisting legislation fallsshort oftherequirements of,andisnotin
conformity with,theprovisions oftheTRIPS Agreement. Thestudy isstillinprogress butapreliminary
analysis shows thatthelegislation fallsshort oftherequirements oftheTRIPS Agreement inmany
ways. Thisisalsoconfirmed bythequestions raised bymembers oftheWorking Party, which put
doubts andreservations ontheconformity oftheexisting legislation withtheWTO rules.
IV. AREAS WHERE THERE ISNOLEGISLATION
8. Asstated earlier inthisnote, andasstated indocument WT/ACC/SAU/5, Saudi Arabia does
nothaveanylegislation, oradequate legislation, atpresent inthefollowing areas:
- industrial designs;
- plant varieties;
- layout-designs ofintegrated circuits;
- protection ofundisclosed information;
- control ofanti-competitive practices incontractual licenses.
9. Inorder toassume obligations andtoimplement theTRIPS Agreement, theKingdom ofSaudi
Arabia willhavetodraftandenact detailed legislation inthese areas inconformity withtherespective
provisions oftheWTO Agreement onTRIPS.
V. ENFORCEMENT OFINTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS
10. Themainareaofdeficiency intheintellectual property regime ofSaudi Arabia, ascompared
totheprovisions oftheTRIPS Agreement, isenforcement. Laws andprocedures ofSaudi Arabia
donotconform tothedetailed provisions ofArticles 41to61oftheTRIPS Agreement. Here, Saudi
Arabia willhavetodraftandenactcomplete anddetailed newlegislation, regulations, andadministrative
guidelines. Thatalone willnotbeenough. Administrative infrastructure foreffective enforcement
willhavetobeestablished.
VI. JUSTIFICATION FOR TRANSITIONAL PERIOD
11. TheKingdom ofSaudi Arabia willrequire atransitional period offiveyears from thedate
ofitsaccession totheWTO toapply theprovisions oftheTRIPS Agreement. TheKingdom will,
however, apply theprovisions ofArticles 3,4,5 and70.8asfromthedateofitsaccession totheWTO.
12. Transitional period willberequired for:
(a) Athorough revision oftheexisting lawsandregulations oncopyrights, trademarks, patents
andgeographical indications. Before thelawsareamended, experts fromWIPO andtheWTO
would beinvited tostudy theexisting laws andtoadvise theSaudi authorities onwhat
amendments andnewadditions needtobemade andwhatwould betheappropriate language,
soastoensure fullconformity withtheprovisions oftheTRIPS Agreement.WT/ACC/SAU/22
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(b) Drafting andenacting lawsandregulations inthefollowing areas: industrial designs, plant
varieties, layout-designs ofintegrated circuits, protection ofundisclosed information andcontrol
ofanti-competitive practices incontractual licenses. Forthispurpose, Saudi experts willvisit
WIPO andWTO andexperts from these organizations willbeinvited tovisitSaudi Arabia
toadvise onthedrafting ofthenewlaws. Itwillbeappreciated thatdrafting newlawsand
theirenactment isalways atime-consuming process asdifferent agencies andinstitutions will
beinvolved inthisprocess.
(c) Making awhole setofnewlaws, regulations andprocedures forenforcement ofintellectual
property laws, inaccordance withtheprovisions ofArticles 41to61oftheAgreement on
TRIPS. Technical assistance willbesought from theWIPO andtheWTO forthispurpose,
soastoadvise theofficials ofSaudi Arabia ontheappropriate legislation, regulations and
procedures thatwillensure conformity withtheTRIPS Agreement. Inthisarea, lawsalone
willnotdo.More important istheestablishment ofanappropriate administrative infrastructure
forenforcement ofthelaws. Expert advice andtechnical assistance willbeobtained fromthe
WIPO andtheWTO inthatregard.
13. Application andenforcement ofintellectual property lawswould require extensive training
oftheofficials andstaffofrespective Ministries andAgencies. Simply enacting thelawsandestablishing
theprocedures willnotbeenough. After thelawshavebeenenacted, officials andstaffofdifferent
Ministries andAgencies willbegiven extensive training tomake themconversant withthedetails and
intricacies ofthelawsandtoequip them toefficiently apply andeffectively enforce thelawsand
procedures.
14. Training ofthestaffwillbealong-drawn process inwhich Saudi Arabia would needtechnical
assistance from WIPO, theWTO [andfrom WTO member countries].
VII. PLAN OFACTION
15. Inthefirsttwoyears afterjoining theWTO, theGovernment oftheKingdom ofSaudi Arabia
would undertake thedrafting ofnewlawsandregulations onintellectual property rights andtherevision
ofexisting lawsandregulations. Inthethirdyearofmembership, administrative guidelines, procedures
andmanuals would beprepared fortheapplication andenforcement oflawsandregulations. Inthe
thirdandfourth years ofmembership, officials andstaffofdifferent Ministries andAgencies would
bethoroughly trained intheapplication andenforcement oflawsandingetting fullyfamiliar withthe
administrative guidelines andprocedures. InthefifthyearofSaudi Arabia ’smembership, thenew
intellectual property lawsandprocedures willbeapplied onanexperimental basis tofindanyflaws
ordifficulties thatmaybeencountered. Finally, fiveyears afterthedateofSaudi Arabia ’saccession
totheWTO, itwillformally apply thefullprovisions oftheTRIPS Agreement.
16. TheKingdom ofSaudi Arabia willnotnecessarily waitforfiveyears toapply allprovisions
oftheTRIPS Agreement. Itmaybeabletoapply theprovisions oncopyright, trademarks andpatents
atanearlier date, aftertheexisting lawshavebeensuitably amended andrevised. However, fuller
application ofallprovisions oftheTRIPS Agreement willbeundertaken attheendofthetransitional
period.