Thursday, 22 March 2012

Qatar Customs recordals


With thanks to good friends Saba & Co and their monthly bulletins for February and March 2012 we have news of IPR Border Measures in Qatar.

Law No. 17 of 2011 on Intellectual Property Rights Border Measures came in to force on publication in the Official Gazette No. 12 of January 2012. The report from Saba describes provisions with which practitioners will be familiar – rights holders can record information with Customs, Customs can stop counterfeits on sufficient evidence, decide what to do with the goods, and the decisions of Customs can be appealed to the Court. Action against goods in transit, goods coming from a country with whom there is a Customs union, and parallel imports is specifically excluded.

This part of the Empty Quarter likes Customs recordals when there is a clear process for recordal, detention, punishment and destruction. Detentions by Customs are a significant deterrent to traders in counterfeit product.

No comments:

Post a Comment