WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  IP/Q/COG/1/Add.1 
IP/Q2/COG/1/Add.1 
IP/Q3/COG/1/Add.1 IP/Q4/COG/1/Add.1 
24 November 2005 
 
(05-5581) 
Council for Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights Original:   French 
 
 
  
REVIEW OF LEGISLATION 
 
CONGO
1 
 
Addendum  
 
 
 This document reproduces the introductory statem ent by the delegation of the Republic of the 
Congo, the questions addressed to it and the res ponses given in connection with the review of 
legislation undertaken at the Council meeting held from 18 to 22 June 2001.2  It was circulated as an 
advance copy for the Council's October 2005 meeting.  
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I. RESPONSES TO QUESTIONS POSED BY  THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES AND 
THEIR MEMBER STATES 
A. 
GENERAL PROVISIONS  
1. Please describe if your legislation includes measures necessary to protect public health 
and nutrition, and to promote the public interest in sectors of vital importance to your socio -
economic and technological development as mentioned under Article 8 of the TRIPS Agreement.  If yes, please explain how such me asures are consistent with the provisions of the 
TRIPS Agreement. 
  Our legislation contains measures necessary to  protect public health and nutrition, and to 
promote the public interest in the context of  socio-economic development, as mentioned under 
Article 8 of the TRIPS Agreement.   Among the exceptions to patent rights, the re vised Bangui Agreement, which constitutes our 
applicable national law in the area of intellectual prope rty law, stipulates in its Annex I on patents, in 
Article 56, on ex officio licences:  "Where certain pa tents are of vital interest to the economy of the 
country, public health or national defence or wh ere non-working or insufficient working of such 
patents seriously compromises the satisfaction of the c ountry's needs, they may be made subject to an 
administrative act of the competent Minister con cerned, to the non-voluntary licence regime.  The 
                                                     
 
1 For the relevant laws and regulations notified by Congo under Article 63.2 of the TRIPS Agreement, 
see documents IP/N/1/COG/C/1 and 2, and IP/N/1/COG/I/1 and 2. 
 
2 The minutes of the meeting were circulated in document IP/C/M/32. IP/Q/COG/1/Add.1, IP/Q2/COG/1/Add.1,  
IP/Q3/COG/1/Add.1, IP/Q4/COG/1/Add.1 Page 2 
 
 
 said act shall specify the beneficiary administratio n or organization, the conditions, term and the 
scope of the non-voluntary licence and the amount of royalties payable.   In the absence of amicable agreement between the owner of the patent and the administration 
concerned on the said conditions, they shall be set by the civil court." 
  This provision equally applies to patents on drugs, food products and chemical fertilizer 
products for agriculture and to national defence.  
 In the area of health, measures relating to h ygiene, vaccination, registration and marketing 
approval measures for pharmaceuticals are also implem ented, in accordance with the guidelines of the 
World Health Organization (WHO), whose Regional O ffice for Africa is in Brazzaville, capital of the 
Republic of Congo.  
I. 
ENFORCEMENT  
56. Please indicate whether or not procedures  are available to suspend the exporting of 
counterfeit goods. 
 
 The Bangui Agreement, as the national law appli cable in the area of intellectual property, 
does not provide for a special procedure for suspending the exporting of counterfeit goods, but it 
contains provisions regarding sanctions, where th e counterfeiting of goods is  proven.  Sanctions 
include the following:  confiscation or destructio n of counterfeit goods and, where necessary, of 
equipment especially intended for their manufacture (Article 67 of Annex I on patents).  If the law 
authorizes the destruction of counterfeit goods, it goe s without saying that their export is suspended. 
 58. Please indicate whether or not your legislation provides for a de minimis imports 
exception. 
 
 Our legislation does not provide for an excepti on for de minimis imports, which are subject to 
the same customs rules as other goods.  II. RESPONSES TO THE ADDITIONAL FOLLOW-UP QUESTIONS POSED BY 
SWITZERLAND 
A. P
ATENTS  
Ad response to question 43 
 Please explain how your legislation implements  the conditions set out in Article 31(a) to 
(l) of the TRIPS Agreement.  Please cite the relevant provisions of your law.  
 Under the exceptions to patent rights, with regard to use without authorization of the 
rightholder, the revised Bangui Agreement, our national law, lays down provisions concerning 
Article 31(a) to (l), inter alia  in Articles 46, 47 and 56 of Annex I, on Patents. 
 
 Article 46 , on the non-voluntary licence for non-working, stipulates: 
                                                     
 
3  This question is based on the response to question 4 posed by Switzerland, contained in the document 
bearing the symbols IP/Q/COG/1, IP/Q2/COG/1, IP/Q3/COG/1, and IP/Q4/COG/1, dated 18 June 2004.  IP/Q/COG/1/Add.1, IP/Q2/COG/1/Add.1,  
 IP/Q3/COG/1/Add.1, IP/Q4/COG/1/Add.1  Page 3 
 
 
 1. At the request of any person made after the expiry of a period of four years from the filing 
date of the patent application or three years from the date of grant of the patent, whichever period 
expires last, a non-voluntary licence may be granted where one or more of the following conditions are fulfilled:  
(a) The patented invention is not being worked  on the national territory, at the time the 
request is made; 
(b) the working of the patented invention on  the national territory does not meet the 
demand for the protected product on reasonable terms; 
(c) on account of the refusal of the owner of the patent to grant licences on reasonable 
commercial terms and conditions, the establis hment or development of industrial or 
commercial activities on such territory is  unfairly and substantially prejudiced. 
2. Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph (1) above, a non-voluntary licence may not be 
granted if the owner of the patent provides legiti mate reasons for the non-working of the invention. 
Article 47 , on the non-voluntary licence for a dependent patent, stipulates: 
1. Where a patented invention cannot be worked without infringing the rights under an earlier 
patent whose owner refuses to authorize its use on reasonable commercial terms and conditions, the 
owner of the later patent may obtain a non-voluntar y licence for such use from the court on the same 
terms as those applicable under Article 46 and s ubject to the following additional conditions:  
(a) The invention claimed in the later pate nt must represent substantial technical 
progress, of considerable economic interest, in relation to the invention claimed in the 
earlier patent; 
(b) the owner of the earlier patent has the ri ght to a reciprocal licence on reasonable 
terms for the use of the inventi on claimed in the later patent;  
(c) the use authorized in relation to the earlie r patent is non-transferable, except where 
the later patent is also transferred. 
Article 56 , on the ex officio licence, stipulates: 
1. Where certain patents are of vital interest to  the economy of the country, public health or 
national defence, or where non-working or insu fficient working of such patents seriously 
compromises the satisfaction of the country's needs,  they may be made subject by an administrative 
act of the competent Minister of the State concer ned, to the non-voluntary licence regime.  The said 
act shall specify the beneficiary administration or organization, the conditions , term and scope of the 
non-voluntary licence and the amount of royalties payable. 
2. In the absence of amicable agreement between th e owner of the patent and the administration 
concerned on the said conditions, they shall be set by the civil court. 
3. Ex officio licences shall be subject to the same conditions as the non-voluntary licences 
granted under Article 46. 
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