IP/C/W/593/Add.1  
 
23 September 2013  
(13-5042)  Page: 1/3  
Council for Trade-Related Aspects of 
Intellectual Property Rights  Original: English  
 
  TECHNICAL COOPERATION ACTIVITIES: 
INFORMATION FROM MEMBERS 
NEW ZEALAND 
Addendum 
The following communication, dated 18 September 2013, is being circulated at the request of the 
delegation of New Zealand.  
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 1.  Pursuant to Article 67 of the Agreement on  Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property 
Rights (TRIPS), the Council for TRIPS has reques ted reports from developed country Members of 
their technical and financial cooperation programmes in favour of developing and least developed country Members.  The present document reports on New Zealand's activities concerning technical 
and financial cooperation in the area of intellectual property (IP), pursuant to the February 2003 
decision of the Co uncil for TRIPS.  
2.  Article 67 of the TRIPS Agreement provides th at "developed country Members shall provide, on 
request and on mutually agreed terms and conditio ns, technical and financial cooperation in favour 
of developing and least developed country Members…[ this] shall include assistance in the 
preparation of laws and regulations on the protec tion and enforcement of intellectual property 
rights as well as the prevention of their abuse, and shall include support regarding the 
establishment or reinforcement of domestic o ffices and agencies relevant to these matters, 
including the training of personnel". 
3.  New Zealand has undertaken technical cooperation activities at the multilateral, regional and 
bilateral levels. At the regional level, New Zealand participates in the Asia-Pacific Economic 
Cooperation Intellectual Property Rights Expert's Group (APEC-IPEG), which provides a forum for sharing information and best practices on intellectual property rights. New Zealand's bilateral trade agreements also provide a mechanism for policy dialogue and information exchange on intellectual 
property matters. For example, New Zealand participates in the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand 
Free Trade Agreement (AANZFTA) IP Committee, which provides an avenue for regular discussions on a range of intellectual property issues of mutual interest to the participants.  
4.  The primary New Zealand Government agencies involved in intellectual property technical 
cooperation activities are the Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand (IPONZ), the Plant Variety Rights Office, the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment (MBIE) and the Ministry 
of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT). 
1  INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY OFFICE OF NEW ZEALAND 
5.  The Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand (IPONZ) provides technical assistance on 
request to developing and least developed countries. Due to New Zealand's history, cultural links 
and geographical location, requests tend to come from neighbouring Pacific Members. New 
Zealand will continue to support, on request, fu ture work to improve the intellectual property 
systems of Pacific Island countries. IP/C/W/593/Add.1 
 
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  6.  The Thailand Trademark Office (within the Department of Intellectual Property, in the Thailand 
Ministry of Commerce) requested information from New Zealand to assist in its plans to increase the number of trade mark examiners due to high fili ngs. As well as sharing high-level information 
on staff numbers, work volumes, productivity, quality assurance systems and career progression, 
IPONZ also supplied examiner performance agreements and role descriptions, as well as 
information about the independent IPONZ business evaluation framework. 
2  PLANT VARIETY RIGHTS OFFICE 
7.  New Zealand has been a member of the Intern ational Union for the Protection of New Varieties 
of Plants (UPOV) since 1987. New Zealand, through the Plant Variety Rights Office (PVRO), actively participates in the UPOV Technical Working Parties. This year, Australia and New Zealand cooperatively held two UPOV Technical Working Parties. Australia hosted the meeting of the UPOV 
Technical Working Party for Ornamental Plants & Forest Trees in Melbourne, and New Zealand 
hosted the UPOV Technical Working Party for Fruit Trees in Napier. 
8.  The IPONZ Plant Variety Rights team act as advisors to the East Asia Plant Variety Protection 
(PVP) Forum. The team provides technical assist ance by correspondence, on request, to Forum 
Members. In addition, New Zealand acted as an advisor to the meeting for the Harmonisation of Technical Guidelines for Durian and Papaya held from 11-15 February 2013, in Cagayan de Oro, 
the Philippines. The meeting was part of the East Asian PVP Forum activity funded by the Japanese 
Government. 
3  SEMINARS 9.  New Zealand officials presented at the following regional and international fora in the period 
July 2012 to June 2013: 
 25-27 September 2012, APEC Food Security Workshop in Tokyo, Japan. The Plant Variety 
Rights Office, IPONZ, provided a presentation on the Plant Variety Protection scheme in New 
Zealand, as an example of a successful and matu re national plant variety protection system 
within APEC. 
 
 14-15 January 2013, National Seminar on Copyri ght and Related Rights organised by WIPO, 
in Tonga. The Manager, Intellectual Property Po licy, at the Ministry of Business Innovation 
and Employment participated as a speaker in this two day seminar which was on copyright works created by Tongan artists and their rights.  
 
 20-23 May 2013, inaugural meeting of the AANZFTA Economic Cooperation Work 
Programme (ECWP) Intellectual Property Public Education and Awareness Community of 
P r a c t i c e  a n d  S t r a t e g y  W o r k s h o p  i n  B a n g k o k ,  Thailand. IPONZ gave a presentation on "IP 
Education Partnerships & Alliances" and helped co-facilitate a number of sessions.  
 
 4-8 May 2013, International Trade Mark Association 135th Annual Meeting, in Dallas, United 
States. The IPONZ National Manager presented at the World Intellectual Property Organisation's Madrid System Users' meeting. The presentation covered New Zealand's recent experience in acceding to and implementing the Madrid Protocol.   
 
4  PROJECTS 
10.  A Quality Management Benchmarking Project was conducted between MBIE (Companies Office 
and IPONZ) and the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC) of South Africa. This 
initiative involved a visit to New Zealand by four officials from the CIPC for the purposes of identifying good practices and making quality management improvement recommendations to the 
CIPC.  
 IP/C/W/593/Add.1 
 
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  5  NEW ZEALAND MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND TRADE'S INTERNATIONAL 
DEVELOPMENT GROUP 
11.  The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) manages the New Zealand Aid Programme. 
The majority of New Zealand's aid is directed to developing and least developed country Members 
in the Pacific and key partners in Asia. The New Zealand Aid Programme has a core focus on 
sustainable economic development. This includes supporting opportunities for private-sector led growth so that producers can increase the value from their production and resources, including 
their intellectual property. Further detail on programmes of relevance to Article 67 of the TRIPS 
Agreement can be found in New Zealand's report on the implementation of Article 66.2 of the 
TRIPS Agreement. 
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