WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONIP/N/1/GTM/1
14 November 2000
(00-4837)
Council for Trade-Related Aspects of
Intellectual Property RightsOriginal:  Spanish
NOTIFICATION OF LAWS AND REGULATIONS UNDER
ARTICLE 63.2 OF THE AGREEMENT
GUATEMALA
By means of communications dated 5 and 24 October 2000 and 7 November 2000, the
following notification of main intellectual property laws and regulations and the list of other related
laws and regulations, under Article 63.2 of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual
Property Rights and the Decision of the TRIPS Council of 21 November 1995, contained in document
IP/C/2, has been received from the Permanent Mission of Guatemala:
- Annex I lists the "Main dedicated intellectual property laws and regulations".
- Annex II lists "Other laws and regulations".- Replies by Guatemala to the Checklist of Issues on Enforcement.
1
                                                     
1 See document IP/N/6/GTM/1.IP/N/1/GTM/1
Page 2
ANNEX I
MAIN DEDICATED INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAWS
AND REGULATIONS
- Decree No. 57-2000 – Industrial Property Law2
Published in the Official Journal (Diario Oficial) of 27 September 2000.
Entered into force as of 1 November 2000.
- Decree No. 33-98 – Law on Copyright and Related Rights3
Published in the Official Journal (Diario Oficial) of 21 May 1998.
Entered into force as of 21 June 1998.
As amended by Decree No. 56-2000.
Published in the Official Journal (Diario Oficial) of 27 September 2000.
Entered into force as of 1 November 2000.
Note:  The regulations for the main laws are  being prepared and will be notified subsequently.
                                                     
2 See document IP/N/1/GTM/I/1/Rev.1.
3 See document IP/N/1/GTM/C/1/Rev.1.IP/N/1/GTM/1
Page 3
ANNEX II
OTHER LAWS AND REGULATIONS
TITLE
DATES OF ADOPTION AND ENTRY INTO
FORCEBRIEF DESCRIPTION
Political Constitution of the Republic of
Guatemala, of 31 May 1985.
(Articles 39, 41, 42, 57, 59, 62, 63 and 119)
Entry into force:  14 January 1986.Recognizes and guarantees the right to private
property.  Recognizes the exclusive ownership of
the author and inventor in their works andcreations and commits the State to developing
and promoting culture, arts and technological
innovation.
Decree No. 2-89 – Judici al Organization Law of
10 January 1989.
(Article 188)
Entry into force:  28 March 1989Establishes provisions on legal representatives,
for the purposes of appearing before the courts.
Decree No. 17-73 – Criminal Code, of
27 July 1973.(Articles 274;  274"A", "B ", "C", "D",  "E", "F"
and "G";  and 275)
Entry into force:  15 September 1973Fixes the penalties applicable to intellectual
property offences.
Decree No. 51-92 – Code of Criminal Procedure,
(Articles 5 and 70-463)
Entry into force:  28 September 1993Sets out the criminal procedure applicable to
criminal proceedings for intellectual propertyoffences.
Decree No. 107 – Code of Civil and Commercial
Procedure, of 14 September 1963.
(Articles 61, 63, 66, 67, 96-210, and 596-635)
Entry into force:  1 July 1964.Sets out the civil procedure applicable to civil
proceedings brought in conformity withintellectual property legislation.
Decree No. 119-96 – Law on Administrative
Litigation Procedure, of 21 November 1996.
(Articles 1-19)
Entry into force:  20 January 1997.Sets out the administrative principles and
measures for contesting decisions taken by the
Intellectual Property Register, and provisions on
administrative proceedings, their automatic
initiation and appeals against decisions.
Decree No. 114-97 - Law on the Executive
Structure, of 3 November 1997.
(Article 32(a) and (b))
Entry into force:  18 December 1997.Establishes provisions on protecting consumers,
promoting competition and the legal repression ofunfair competition.IP/N/1/GTM/1
Page 4
TITLE
DATES OF ADOPTION AND ENTRY INTO
FORCEBRIEF DESCRIPTION
Decree No. 2-70 – Commercial Code, of
28 January 1970.
(Articles 4, 362-367, 655, 657 and 668)
Entry into force:  30 March 1970.Regulates unfair competition, business
enterprises, trademarks and patents, as well as
trade names, notifications and notices as elements
of enterprises.
Government Agreement No. 182-2000
– Regulations of the Ministry of the Economy,
of 12 May 2000 (Article 29)
Entry into force:  26 May 2000Establishes the Intellectual Property Register,
which is the body responsible for promotingobservance of intellectual property rights, as well
as for their listing and registration
Decree No. 9-98 – Foreign Investment Law,
of 20 February 1998. (Articles 2, 5 and 7)Gives foreign investors full rights, use,
enjoyment, and ownership of their investment.
Decree-Law No. 1-85 – Consumer Protection
Law,
of 14 January 1985. (Articles 2, 3.5 and 14.4)
Entry into force:  15 January 1985Protects against any act or procedure which alters
or whose purpose is to alter the quality of
products, as well as the protection of goods.
Decree-Law No. 106 – Civil Code,
of 14 September 1963.  (Articles 442, 443, 451,
464, 468, 470, 485, 486 and 490)
Entry into force:  1 July 1964Specifies goods which may be seized, ownership
and its protection and copyright.
Decree No. 1441 – Labour Code,
of 5 May 1971.  (Article 63)
Entry into force:  5 July 1971Regulates the obligation of employees to keep
technical, commercial or manufacturing secrets
relating to products whose disclosure could injurethe enterprise.
Decree No. 70-96 – Law on the Protection of the
Subjects, Proceedings and Persons Connected
with the Administration of Criminal Justice,
of 27 August 1996.  (Articles 2, 10 and 11(a))
Entry into force:  27 December 1996The main purpose is to provide protection to
persons who are exposed to risks because of their
participation in criminal proceedings as witnessesor who provide information related to offences.
Decree No. 41-92 – Law Regulating the Use and
Receipt of Signals Via Satellite and their
Distribution by Cable,
of  26 May1992.  (Article 9(g))Establishes that the supplier of cable television
services is the only person responsible for
receiving satellite signals, distributing them andalso for the earth station and cable distribution of
the signal, without prejudice to civil, criminal or
other sanctions that might apply in accordance
with the laws of the Republic or international
agreements ratified by Guatemala.IP/N/1/GTM/1
Page 5
TITLE
DATES OF ADOPTION AND ENTRY INTO
FORCEBRIEF DESCRIPTION
Decree No. 94-96 – General Telecommunications
Law,
of 17 October 1996.  (Article 28)
Entry into force:  17 November 1996Establishes that any operator of commercial
telecommunications networks must provide
access to essential resources to any operator who
so requests subject to the corresponding payment.
The access granted must be of the quality and in
the nodes requested provided that this istechnically feasible.
Decree-Law No. 433 – Radiocommunications
Law,
of 10 March 1976.  (Article 41, Nos. 12) and 15))Prohibits the total or partial simultaneous or
delayed transmission of programmes originating
in foreign or national broadcasting organizations
without the prior authorization of the original
stations.
Decree No 37-95,
of 15 May 1995. (Article 1)
Inter-American Convention on Copyright in
Literary, Scientific and Artistic Works,
Washington DC,
of 22 June 1946, approved by Decree No. 844 of
7 November 1951, and ratified on
10 January 1952
Universal Copyright Convention and Protocols,
Geneva,
of 6 September 1952, approved by Decree-Law
No. 251 of 16 July 1964 and ratified on
17 July 1964.
International Convention for the Protection of
Performers, Producers of Phonograms and
Broadcasting Organizations, Rome,
of 26 October 1961, approved by Decree No. 37-
76 of 29 October 1976.
Convention for the Protection of Producers of
Phonograms Against Unauthorized Duplication
of their Phonograms, Geneva,
of 29 October 1971, approved by Decree
No. 36-76 and ratified on 3 November 1976.Approves the Final Act Incorporating the Results
of the Uruguay Round of Multilateral Trade
Negotiations.
International rules on copyright in literary,
scientific and artistic works.
International rules on copyright, complemented
by its respective Protocols
International rules on performers, producers of
phonograms and broadcasting organizations.
International rules on producers of phonograms
against unauthorized duplication of their
respective phonograms.IP/N/1/GTM/1
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TITLE
DATES OF ADOPTION AND ENTRY INTO
FORCEBRIEF DESCRIPTION
Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary
and Artistic Works – Paris Act,
of 24 July 1971, amended on 2 October 1979,
approved by the Congress of the Republic
through Decree No. 71-95, ratified on
20 June 1996, and published in the OfficialJournal (Diario Oficial) of 26 August 1997.Rules on literary and artistic works
General Inter-American Convention for
Trademark and Commercial Protection,
Washington,
of 20 February 1929, published in the Official
Journal (Diario Oficial) of 9 December 1929International rules on trademarks, repression of
unfair competition and false indications of
geographical origin.
Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial
Property,
of 20 March 1883, and amended on
2 October 1979, ratified on 20 April 1998 and
published in the Official Journal (Diario Oficial)of 31 July 1998.International rules on industrial property.
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