Agreement for scientific and technological cooperation between the European Community and the Government of the People's Republic of China
Date: 1998-12-22
Institutions: China, European Community
Subjects: China, cooperation agreement (EU), research and development, scientific cooperation, technical cooperation

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for scientific and technological cooperation between the European Community and the Govern-
ment of the People's Republic of China

AGREEMENT

THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITY, hereinafter referred to as the ‘Community’,

on the one part, and

THE GOVERNMENT OF THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA,

on the other part,

hereinafter referred to as the ‘Parties’;

CONSIDERING the 1985 Agreement on trade and economic cooperation between the European Economic Community
and the People's Republic of China;

CONSIDERING the importance of science and technology for their economic and social development;

CONSIDERING the ongoing scientific and technological cooperation between the Community and China;

CONSIDERING that the Community and China are currently pursuing research and technological activities, including
demonstration activities, in a number of areas of common interest and that participation in each other's research and
development activities on a basis of reciprocity will provide mutual benefits;

DESIRING to establish a formal basis for cooperation in scientific and technological research which will extend and
strengthen the conduct of cooperative activities in areas of common interest and encourage the application of the results
of such cooperation to their economic and social benefit;

CONSIDERING that this Agreement for scientific and technological cooperation is within the context of the global
cooperation between China and the Community,

HAVE AGREED AS FOLLOWS:

Article 1

Purpose

The Parties shall encourage, develop and facilitate cooperative
activities between the Community and China in fields of
common interest where they are pursuing research and devel-
opment activities in science and technology.

research programmes. In the case where there is funding by
only one Party the designation is made by that Party and
the participant in that project;

(e) ‘Participant’ or ‘research entities’ means any person moral
or private, any research institute or any other legal entity or
firm established in the Community or in China involved in
cooperative activities including the Parties themselves.

Article 2

Definition

Article 3

Principles

For the purpose of this Agreement:

(a) ‘cooperative activity’ means any activity which the Parties
undertake or support, pursuant to this Agreement, and
includes joint research;

(b) ‘information’ means scientific or technical data, results or
methods of research and development stemming from joint
research and any other data deemed necessary by the
participants to cooperative activities;
including, as neces-
sary, by the Parties themselves;

(c) ‘intellectual property’ shall have the meaning defined in
Article 2 of the Convention a establishing the World Intel-
lectual Property Organisation, done at Stockholm, 14 July
1967;

Cooperative activities shall be conducted on the basis of the
following principles:

(a) mutual benefit based on an overall balance of advantages;

(b) reciprocal access to the activities of research and technolog-

ical development undertaken by each Party;

(c) timely exchange of information which may affect cooper-

ative activities;

(d) appropriate protection of intellectual property rights.

Article 4

Areas of cooperative activities

(d) ‘joint research’ means research, technological development
or demonstration that is implemented with or without
from one or both Parties and that
financial support
involves collaboration by participants
from both the
Community and China and is designated as joint research
in writing by the Parties or their scientific and technological
organisations and agencies implementing the scientific

Cooperation under this Agreement may cover all the activities
technological development and demonstration,
of research,
hereinafter referred to as ‘RTD’, included in the first activity of
the framework programme under Article 130g of the Treaty
establishing the European Community and all similar RTD
activities in China in the corresponding scientific and techno-
logical fields.

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This Agreement does not affect the participation of China, as a
developing country,
in Community activities in the field of
research for development.

Article 5

Forms of cooperative activities

(a) Subject to their applicable laws, regulations and policies,
the Parties shall foster, to the fullest extent practicable, the
involvement of participants in cooperative activities under
this Agreement with a view to providing comparable
opportunities for participation in their scientific and tech-
nological research and development activities.

(b) Cooperative activities may take the following forms:

— participation of Chinese research entities

to RTD
projects under
the framework
the first activity of
programme and reciprocal participation of research
entities established in the Community to Chinese
projects in similar sectors of RTD. Such a participation
is subject to the rules and procedures applicable in each
Party,

— pooling

of RTD projects

implemented
according to the procedures applicable in the RTD
programmes of each Party,

already

— visits and exchanges of scientists and technical experts,

— joint organisation of scientific seminars, conferences,
symposia and workshops, as well as participation of
experts to those activities,

— concerted actions,

— exchanges and sharing of equipment and materials,

— exchanges of information on practices, laws, regulations
and programmes relevant to cooperation under this
Agreement,

— any other modality that would be recommended by the
Steering Committee and deemed in conformity with the
policies and procedures applicable in both Parties.

The joint RTD projects shall be implemented when the
participants have developed a technology management
plan, as indicated in the Annex to this Agreement.

Article 6

Coordination and facilitation of cooperative activities

(a) The coordination and facilitation of cooperative activities
under this Agreement shall be accomplished on behalf of
China, by the Ministry of Science and Technology and, on
behalf of the Community, by the services of the Commis-
sion of the European Communities, acting as executive
agents.

(b) The executive agents

shall establish a Steering RTD
Cooperation Committee, hereinafter
referred to as the
‘Steering Committee’ for the management of this Agree-
ment; this Committee shall consist of an equal number of
official representatives of each Party; it shall establish its
own rules of procedure.

(c) The functions of the Steering Committee shall

include:

1. promoting and overseeing the different cooperative
activities as mentioned in Article 4 as well as those that
would be implemented in the framework of RTD
cooperation for development;

2.

indicating, for the following year, pursuant to Article
5(b), first indent, among the potential sectors for RTD
cooperation,
those priority sectors or subsectors of
mutual

interest in which cooperation is sought;

3. proposing, pursuant to Article 5(b), second indent, to
the scientists of both Parties the pooling of
their
projects which would be of mutual benefit and comple-
mentary;

4. making recommendations pursuant

to Article 5 (b),

seventh indent;

5. advising the Parties on ways to enhance and improve
cooperation consistent with the principles set out in this
Agreement;

6. reviewing the efficient functioning and implementation

of this Agreement;

7. annually providing a report to the Parties on the status,
the level reached and the effectiveness of cooperation
undertaken under this Agreement. This report will be
transmitted to the Joint Committee established under
the 1985 Agreement on trade and economic coopera-
tion between the European Economic Community and
the People' Republic of China.

economic

(d) The Steering Committee shall, as a general rule, meet
the Joint
annually, preferably before the meeting of
Committee established under the 1985 Agreement on trade
and
European
Economic Community and the People's Republic of China,
and according to a jointly agreed schedule; the meetings
should be held alternatively in the Community and in
China. Extraordinary meetings may be organised at the
request of either Party.

cooperation

between

the

(e) The costs incurred by the Steering Committee or in its
name shall be borne by the Party to whom members relate.
The costs other than those for travel and accommodation
which are directly associated with meetings of the Steering
Committee shall be borne by the host Party.

Article 7

Funding

(a) Cooperative activities shall be subject to the availability of
appropriated funds and to the applicable laws and regula-
tions, policies and programmes of the Parties. The costs
incurred by the participants to cooperative activities will
not lead to any transfer of funds from one Party to the
other.

(b) When specific cooperative schemes of one Party provide
for financial support to participants from the other Party,
any such grants, financial or other contributions from one
Party to the participants of the other Party in support of
those activities shall be granted tax and customs exemption
in accordance with the laws and regulations applicable in
the territories of each Party.

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Article 8

Entry of personnel and equipment

Each Party shall take all reasonable steps and use its best
efforts, within the laws and regulations applicable in the terri-
tories of each Party, to facilitate entry to, sojourn and exit from
its territory of persons, material, data and equipment involved
in or used in cooperative activities identified by the Parties
under the provisions of this Agreement.

Article 9

Diffusion and utilisation of information

The research entities established in China which are involved in
Community RTD projects shall follow, as regards the owner-
ship, diffusion and utilisation of information and as regards the
intellectual property stemming from this involvement, the rules
of diffusion of research results stemming from the Community
RTD specific programmes as well as the provisions of the
Annex to this Agreement.

The research entities established in the Community which are
involved in Chinese RTD projects have, as regards the owner-
ship, diffusion and utilisation of information and as regards the
intellectual property stemming from this involvement,
the
same rights and the same obligations as the Chinese research
entities and are subject to the provisions of the Annex to this
Agreement.

The Annex on intellectual property rights is an integral part of
this Agreement.

Article 10

Territorial application

on the other hand to the territory of the People's Republic of
China. This shall not prevent the conduct of cooperative activi-
ties on the high seas, outer space, or the territory of third
countries,

in accordance with international

law.

Article 11

Entry into force, termination and dispute settlement

(a) This Agreement shall enter into force on the date on which
the Parties have notified each other in writing that their
respective internal procedures necessary for its entry into
force have been completed.

(b) This Agreement shall be concluded for an initial period of
five years and may be renewed by common agreement
between the Parties (tacit renewal) after evaluation during
the penultimate year of each successive period.

(c) This Agreement may be amended by agreement of the
Parties. Amendments shall enter into force on the date on
which the Parties have notified each other in writing that
their respective internal procedures necessary for amending
this Agreement have been completed.

(d) This Agreement may be terminated at any time by either
Party upon six months' written notice. The expiration or
termination of this Agreement shall not affect the validity
or duration of any arrangements made under it, or any
specific rights and obligations that have accrued in compli-
ance with the Annex.

This Agreement shall apply, on the one hand to the territories
in which the Treaty establishing the European Community is
applied and under the conditions laid down in that Treaty, and

(e) All questions or disputes related to the interpretation or
this Agreement shall be settled by

implementation of
mutual agreement between the Parties.

In witness whereof, the undersigned, being duly authorised thereto, have signed this Agreement.

Done at, Brussels on 22 december 1998, in two copies, in the Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French,
German, Greek, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, and Chinese languages, with each text being equally
authentic.

For the Council of the European Union

For the Government of the People's Pepublic of China

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ANNEX

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS

Rights to intellectual property created or furnished under the Agreement shall be allocated as provided for in this Annex.

I. Application

This Annex is applicable to joint research undertaken pursuant to the Agreement, except as otherwise agreed by the
Parties.

II. Ownership, allocation and exercise of rights

1. For purposes of this Annex ‘intellectual property’

is defined in Article 2(c) of the Agreement.

2. This Annex addresses the allocation of rights and interests of the Parties and their participants. Each Party and its
participants shall ensure that the other Party and its participants may obtain the rights to intellectual property
allocated to it in accordance with this Annex. This Annex does not otherwise alter or prejudice the allocation of
rights, interests and royalties between a Party and its nationals or participants, which will be determined by the
laws and practices applicable to each Party.

3. The Parties will also be guided by, and contractual arrangements should provide for, the following principles:

(a) effective protection of intellectual property. The Parties shall ensure that they and/or their participants notify
one another within a reasonable time of the creation of any intellectual property arising under the Agreement,
of implementation arrangements and seek protection for such intellectual property in a timely fashion;

(b) effective exploitation of results, taking into account the contributions of the Parties and their participants;

(c) non-discriminatory treatment of participants from the other Party as compared with the treatment given to its

own participants;

(d) protection of business-confidential

information.

4. The participants shall jointly develop a technology management plan (TMP) in respect of the ownership and use,
including publication of information and intellectual property to be created in the course of joint research. The
TMP will be approved by the responsible funding agency, or department of the Party involved in financing the
research before the conclusion of the specific research and development cooperation contracts to which they are
attached. The TMP shall be developed within the rules and regulations in force at each Party taking into account
the aims of the joint research, the relative financial or other contributions of the Parties and participants, the
advantages and disadvantages of licensing by territory or for fields of use, the transfer of export-controlled data,
goods or services, requirements imposed by the applicable laws and other factors deemed appropriate by the
participants. The rights and obligations concerning the research generated by visiting researchers (i.e. researchers
not coming from a Party or a participant) in respect of intellectual property will also be addressed in the joint
TMP.

The TMP is a specific agreement to be concluded between the participants about the implementation of joint
research and the respective rights and obligations of the participants.

With respect to intellectual property, the TMP will normally address, among other things, ownership, protection,
user rights for research and development purposes, exploitation and dissemination, including arrangements for
joint publication, the rights and obligations of visiting researchers and dispute settlement procedures. The TMP
may also address foreground and background information,

licensing and deliverables.

5. Information or intellectual property created in the course of joint research and not addressed in the TMP will be
allocated, with the approval of the Parties, according to the principles set out in the TMP. In case of disagreement,
such information or intellectual property will be owned jointly by all the participants involved in the joint research
from which the information or intellectual property results. Each participant to whom this provision applies will
have the right to use such information or intellectual property for his own commercial exploitation with no
geographical

limitation.

6. Each Party will ensure that the other Party and its participants may have the rights to intellectual property

allocated to them in accordance with these principles.

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7. While maintaining the condition of competition in areas affected by the Agreement, each Party will endeavour to
ensure that rights acquired pursuant to the Agreement and arrangements made under it are exercised in such a
way as to encourage, in particular (i) the dissemination and use of information created, disclosed or otherwise
made available, under the Agreement, and (ii) the adoption and implementation of international standards.

8. The termination or expiry of the Agreement will not affect rights or obligations under this Annex.

III. Copyright works and scientific literary works

Copyright belonging to the Parties or to their participants will be accorded treatment consistent with the Berne
Convention (Paris Act 1971). Copyright protection will extend to expressions and not to ideas, procedures, methods
of operation or mathematical concepts as such. Limitations or exceptions to exclusive rights will be confined to
certain special cases which do not conflict with a normal exploitation of the work and do not reasonably prejudice
the legitimate interests of the right holder.

Without prejudice to Section II, and unless otherwise agreed in the TMP, publication of results of research shall be
made jointly by the Parties or participants to that joint research. Subject to the foregoing general rule, the following
procedures shall apply

1. In the case of publication by a Party, or public bodies of that Party of scientific and technical journals, articles,
reports, books, including video and software arising from joint research pursuant to the Agreement, the other
Party will be entitled to a worldwide, non-exclusive, irrevocable, royalty-free licence to translate, reproduce, adapt,
transmit and publicly distribute such works.

2. The Parties will ensure that literary works of a scientific character arising from joint research pursuant to the

Agreement and published by independent publishers will be disseminated as widely as possible.

3. All copies of a copyright work to be publicly distributed and prepared under this provision shall indicate the
names of the author(s) of the work unless an author explicitly declines to be named. They shall also bear a clearly
visible acknowledgement of the cooperative support of the Parties.

IV. Inventions, discoveries and other science and technology achievements

Inventions, discoveries and other science and technology achievements created under cooperative activities between
the Parties themselves will be owned by the Parties unless otherwise agreed by the Parties.

V. Undisclosed information

A. Documentary undisclosed information

1. Each Party, its agencies or its participants, as appropriate, will identify at the earliest possible moment and
preferably in the TMP the information that they wish to remain undisclosed in relation to the Agreement,
taking into account inter alia the following criteria:

(a) secrecy of the information in the sense that it is not, as a body or in the precise configuration or assembly
of its components, generally known among or readily accessible by lawful means to experts in the fields;

(b) the actual or potential commercial value of the information by virtue of its secrecy;

(c) previous protection of the information in the sense that it has been subject to steps that were reasonable

under the circumstances by the person lawfully in control, to maintain its secrecy.

The Parties and their participants may in certain cases agree that, unless otherwise indicated, parts or all of the
information provided, exchanged or created in the course of joint research pursuant to the Agreement may
not be disclosed.

2. Each Party shall ensure that it and its participants clearly identify undisclosed information, for example by
means of an appropriate marking or restrictive legend. This also applies to any reproduction of the said
information,

in whole or in part.

A Party receiving undisclosed information pursuant to the Agreement will respect the privileged nature
thereof. These limitations will automatically terminate when this information is disclosed by the owner into
the public domain.

3. Undisclosed information communicated under the Agreement may be disseminated by the receiving Party to
persons within or employed by the receiving Party and other concerned departments or agencies in the
receiving Party authorised for the specific purposes of the joint research under way, provided that any
undisclosed information so disseminated shall be pursuant to an agreement of confidentiality and shall be
readily recognisable as such, as set out above.

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4. With the prior written consent of the Party providing undisclosed information, the receiving Party may
disseminate such undisclosed information more widely than otherwise permitted in point 3. The Parties shall
cooperate in developing procedures for requesting and obtaining prior written consent for such wider
dissemination, and each Party will grant such approval to the extent permitted by its domestic policies,
regulations and laws.

B. Non-documentary undisclosed information

Non-documentary undisclosed or other confidential
information provided in seminars and other meetings
arranged under the Agreement, or information arising from the attachment of staff, use of facilities, or joint
projects, shall be treated by the Parties or their participants according to the principles specified for documentary
information in the Agreement; provided, however, that the recipient of such undisclosed or other confidential or
privileged information has been made aware of the confidential character of the information communicated at the
time such communication is made.

C. Control

Each Party shall endeavour to ensure that undisclosed information received by it under the Agreement will be
controlled as provided herein. If one of the Parties becomes aware that it will be, or may be reasonably expected to
become, unable to meet the non-dissemination provisions of Sections A and B, it shall immediately inform the
other Party. The Parties will thereafter consult to define an appropriate course of action.