Article 14.16. Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises' Participation
1. The Parties recognize the importance of the participation of micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in government procurement.
2. The Parties also recognize the importance of business alliances between suppliers of each Party, and in particular of SMEs, including the joint participation in tendering procedures.
3. The Parties shall endeavor to work jointly towards exchanging information and facilitating access of SMEs to government procurement procedures, methods, and contracting requirements, focusing on their special needs.
Article 14.17. Cooperation
1. The Parties recognize the importance of cooperation with a view to achieving a better understanding of their respective government procurement systems, as well as a better access to their respective markets, in particular for SMEs.
2. The Parties shall endeavor to cooperate in matters such as:
(a) exchange of experiences and information, such as regulatory frameworks, best practices, and statistics;
(b) development and use of electronic communications in government procurement systems;
(c) capacity building and technical assistance to suppliers with respect to access to the government procurement market; and
(d) institutional strengthening for the fulfillment of this Chapter, including training of government personnel.
Article 14.18. Committee on Government Procurement
1. The Parties hereby establish a Committee on Government Procurement (hereinafter referred to as the "Committee") comprising representatives of each Party.
2. The Committee shall: (a) evaluate the implementation of this Chapter, including its application, and recommend to the Parties the appropriate activities;
(b) coordinate the cooperation activities;
(c) evaluate and follow up the activities related to cooperation that the Parties present; and
(d) consider further negotiations aimed at broadening the coverage of this Chapter.
3. The Committee shall meet upon request of a Party or as mutually agreed by the Parties. The meetings may also be held, as necessary, via telephone, video conference, or other means as mutually agreed by the Parties.
Article 14.19. Further Negotiations
In a case that a Party offers, after the entry into force of this Agreement, to a non-Party additional advantages with regard to its government procurement market access coverage agreed under this Chapter, it shall agree, upon request of the other Party, to enter into negotiations with a view to extending coverage under this Chapter on a reciprocal basis.
Article 14.20. Definitions
For purposes of this Chapter:
build-operate-transfer contract and public works concession contract mean any contractual arrangement the primary purpose of which is to provide for the construction or rehabilitation of physical infrastructure, plant, buildings, facilities, or other government-owned works and under which, as consideration for a supplier's execution of a contractual arrangement, a procuring entity grants to the supplier, for a specified period of time, temporary ownership or a right to control and operate, and demand payment for the use of, such works for the duration of the contract;
commercial goods or services means goods or services of a type generally sold or offered for sale in the commercial marketplace to, and customarily purchased by, non-governmental buyers for non-governmental purposes;
conditions for participation means any registration, qualification, or other pre-requisites for participation in a procurement;
electronic auction means an iterative process that involves the use of electronic means for the presentation by suppliers of either new prices, or new values for quantifiable non-price elements of the tender related to the evaluation criteria, or both, resulting in a ranking or re-ranking of tenders;
in writing or written means any worded or numbered expression that can be read, reproduced, and later communicated. It may include electronically transmitted and stored information;
limited tendering means a procurement method whereby the procuring entity contacts a supplier or suppliers of its choice;
measure means any law, regulation, procedure, administrative guidance or practice, or any action of a procuring entity relating to a covered procurement;
multi-use list means a list of suppliers that a procuring entity has determined satisfy the conditions for participation in that list, and that the procuring entity intends to use more than once;
notice of intended procurement means a notice published by a procuring entity inviting interested suppliers to submit a request for participation, a tender, or both;
offset means any condition or undertaking that encourages local development or improves a Party's balance-of-payments accounts, such as the use of domestic content, the licensing of technology, investment, counter-trade, and similar action or requirement;
open tendering means a procurement method whereby all interested suppliers may submit a tender;
person means a natural person or a juridical person;
procuring entity means an entity covered under a Party's Annex 14-A;
qualified supplier means a supplier that a procuring entity recognizes as having satisfied the conditions for participation;
selective tendering means a procurement method whereby only qualified suppliers are invited by the procuring entity to submit a tender;
services includes construction services, unless otherwise specified; standard means a document approved by a recognized body that provides for common and repeated use, rules, guidelines, or characteristics for goods or services, or related processes and production methods, with which compliance is not mandatory. It may also include or deal exclusively with terminology, symbols, packaging, marking, or labeling requirements as they apply to a good, service, process, or production method;
supplier means a person or group of persons that provides or could provide goods or services; and
technical specification means a tendering requirement that:
(a) lays down the characteristics of goods or services to be procured, including quality, performance, safety, and dimensions, or the processes and methods for their production or provision; or
(b) addresses terminology, symbols, packaging, marking, or labeling requirements, as they apply to a good or service.
Chapter Fifteen. Intellectual Property Rights
Article 15.1. Objectives
The objectives of this Chapter are:
(a) to increase the benefits from trade and investment;
(b) to promote innovation and creativity;
(c) to facilitate production and commercialization of innovative and creative products; and
(d) to contribute to the transfer and dissemination of technology, in a manner conducive to social and economic welfare, and to the balance between the rights of the right holders and the public interest.
Article 15.2. Observance of International Obligations
The Parties affirm their rights and obligations under the TRIPS Agreement, as well as any other multilateral agreement related to intellectual property and the agreements administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization (hereinafter referred to as "WIPO"), that are in force between the Parties.
Article 15.3. More Extensive Protection
The Parties may, but shall not be obliged to, provide more extensive protection for, and enforcement of, intellectual property rights under their laws than this Chapter requires, provided that the more extensive protection does not contravene this Chapter.
Article 15.4. Basic Principles
1. The Parties shall grant and ensure adequate, effective, and non-discriminatory protection of intellectual property rights, and provide for measures for the enforcement of such rights.
2. In respect of all categories of intellectual property covered in this Chapter, each Party shall accord to nationals (1) of the other Party treatment no less favorable than it accords to its own nationals with regard to the protection (2) and enjoyment of such intellectual property rights and any benefit derived from such rights.
Article 15.5. General Provisions
1. The Parties recognize the need to maintain a balance between the rights of the right holders and the public interest.
2. The Parties recognize the importance of the principles established in the Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health (WT/MIN(01)/DEC/2), adopted on November 14, 2001 by the WTO at its Fourth Ministerial Conference, held in Doha, Qatar, and in the Decision of the WTO General Council on the Implementation of Paragraph 6 of the Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health, adopted on August 30, 2003. The Parties also recognize the importance of promoting the implementation and full use of Resolution WHA61.21, Global Strategy and Plan of Action on Public Health, Innovation, and Intellectual Property, adopted on May 24, 2008 by the Assembly of the World Health Organization.
3. Each Party may, in formulating or amending its laws and regulations, adopt measures necessary, and make use of the exceptions and flexibilities, to protect public health and nutrition, and to promote the public interest in sectors of vital importance to its socioeconomic and technological development.
4. The Parties recognize the impact of information and communication technologies on the use of literary and artistic works, artistic performances, phonogram productions, and broadcasts and, therefore, the need to provide adequate protection of copyright and related rights in the digital environment.
5. The Parties may take appropriate measures, if needed to prevent the abuse of intellectual property rights by right holders, or the resort to practices which unreasonably restrain trade or adversely affect international transfer of technology.
6. The Parties recognize that technology transfer contributes to the strengthening of national capabilities with the aim of establishing a sound and viable technological base.
7. The Parties shall be free to establish their own regime for exhaustion of intellectual property rights.
Article 15.6. Trademarks
Trademarks Protection
1. Neither Party shall require, as a condition of registration, that signs be visually perceptible, nor shall either Party deny registration of a trademark solely on the grounds that the sign of which it is composed is a sound or a scent (3).
2. Each Party shall provide that trademarks shall include collective marks and certification marks.
3. Each Party shall provide that the owner of a registered trademark shall have the exclusive right to prevent all third parties not having the owner's consent from using in the course of trade identical or similar signs, at least for goods or services that are identical or similar to those goods or services in respect of which the owner's trademark is registered, where such use would result in a likelihood of confusion. In the case of the use of an identical sign, for identical goods or services, a likelihood of confusion shall be presumed.
Exceptions to Trademarks Rights
4. Each Party may provide limited exceptions to the rights conferred by a trademark, such as fair use of descriptive terms, provided that such exceptions take account of the legitimate interests of the owner of the trademark and of third parties.
Well-Known Trademarks
5. Neither Party shall require, as a condition for determining that a mark is a well-known mark, that the mark has been registered in the territory of that Party or in another jurisdiction. Additionally, neither Party shall deny remedies or relief with respect to well-known marks solely because of the lack of:
(a) a registration;
(b) inclusion on a list of well-known marks; or
(c) prior recognition of the mark as well-known.
6. Article 6bis of the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property (1967) (the Paris Convention) shall apply, mutatis mutandis, to goods or services that are not identical or similar to those identified by a well-known trademark (4), whether registered or not, provided that use of that trademark in relation to those goods or services would indicate a connection between those goods or services and the owner of the trademark, and provided that the interests of the owner of the trademark are likely to be damaged by such use.
7. Each Party shall provide for appropriate measures to refuse or cancel the registration and prohibit the use of a trademark that is identical or similar to a well-known trademark, for related goods or services, if the use of that trademark is likely to cause confusion, or to cause mistake, or to deceive or risk associating the trademark with the owner of the well-known trademark, or constitutes unfair exploitation of the reputation of the well-known trademark.
Registration and Applications of Trademarks
8. Each Party shall provide a system for the registration of trademarks, in which the reasons for a refusal to register a trademark shall be communicated in writing and may be provided electronically to the applicant, who will have the opportunity to contest such refusal and to judicially appeal a final refusal.
9. Each Party shall also introduce the possibility to oppose trademark applications.
10. Each party shall provide a publicly available electronic database of trademark applications and trademark registrations.
11. Each Party shall provide that initial registration and each renewal of registration of a trademark shall be for a term of no less than 10 years.
Judicial and Administrative Means
12. Each Party shall provide a system that permits owners to assert their rights in trademarks, and interested parties to challenge such rights in trademarks, through administrative or judicial means, or both.
Article 15.7. Copyright and Related Rights
Protection Granted
1. Each Party shall comply with:
(a) the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works (1971) (the Berne Convention);
(b) the International Convention for the Protection of Performers, Producers of Phonograms and Broadcasting Organizations (1961) (the Rome Convention);
(c) the WIPO Copyright Treaty (1996); and
(d) the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty (1996).
Rights of Performers and Producers of Phonograms
2. Each Party shall provide to performers and producers of phonograms the right to a single equitable remuneration for the direct or indirect use of phonograms published for commercial purposes for broadcasting or for any communication to the public, in accordance with its legislation.
Collective Management Organizations
3. The Parties recognize the importance of collective management societies for copyright and related rights, in order to ensure an effective management of the rights entrusted to them, and an equitable distribution of the collected remunerations, which are proportional to the utilization of the works, performances, or phonograms, in a context of transparency and good management practices, according to the legislation of each Party.
Rights of Broadcasting Organization
4. Each Party shall provide broadcasting organizations with the exclusive right to authorize or prohibit:
(a) the re-broadcasting of their broadcasts (5);
(b) the fixation of their broadcasts;
(c) the reproduction of fixations; and
(d) the communication to the public of their television broadcasts if such communication is made in places accessible to the public against payment of an entrance fee. It shall be a matter for the law of the Party where protection of this right is claimed to determine the conditions under which it may be exercised.
Protection of Technological Measures
5. Each Party shall provide adequate legal protection and effective legal remedies against the circumvention of any effective technological measures that authors, performers, and producers of phonograms use in connection with the exercise of their rights and that restrict unauthorized acts in respect of their works, performances, and phonograms, committed by a person knowing, or having reasonable grounds to know, that such person is pursuing that objective.
6. Each Party shall provide adequate legal protection and effective legal remedies against the manufacture, import, distribution, sale, rental, advertisement for sale or rental, or possession for commercial purposes, of devices, products, or components, or the provision of services which:
(a) are promoted, advertised, or marketed, for the purpose of circumvention of;
(b) have only a limited commercially significant purpose or use, other than to circumvent; or
(c) are primarily designed, produced, adapted, or performed, for the purpose of enabling or facilitating the circumvention of, any effective technological measure.
7. For purposes of this Chapter, technological measure means any technology, device, or component that, in the normal course of its operation, is designed to prevent or restrict acts, in respect of works, performances, or phonograms, which are not authorized by the right holder of any copyright or any right related to copyright, as provided for by each Party's legislation. Technological measures shall be deemed effective when the use of a protected work, performance, or phonogram is controlled by the right holders through the application of an access control or protection process, such as encryption, scrambling, or other transformation of the work, performance, or phonogram, or a copy control mechanism, which achieves the objective of protection.
8. Each Party may provide for exceptions and limitations to measures implementing paragraphs 5 and 6 in accordance with its legislation and the relevant international agreements it is a party to. Protection of Rights Management Information
9. Each Party shall provide adequate legal protection and effective legal remedies against any person knowingly performing without authority any of the following acts:
(a) the removal or alteration of any rights management information; or
(b) the distribution, importation for distribution, broadcasting, communication, or making available to the public, of works, performances, or phonograms, protected under this Chapter, from which rights management information has been removed or altered without authority, if such person knows, or has reasonable grounds to know, that by doing so it is inducing, enabling, facilitating, or concealing an infringement of any copyright or any right related to copyright as provided by the law of the relevant Party.
10. For purposes of this Chapter, rights management information means any information provided by right holders, which identifies the work, performance, or phonogram referred to in this Chapter, the author, the performer, or the producer of the phonogram, or information about the terms and conditions of use of the work, performance, or phonogram, and any numbers or codes that represent such information.
11. Paragraph 10 shall apply when any of these items of information is associated with a copy of, or appears in connection with the communication to the public of, a work, performance, or phonogram referred to in this Chapter. Protection of Encrypted Program-Carrying Satellite Signals
12. Each Party shall provide adequate legal protection and effective legal remedies against the:
(a) manufacturing, assembling, modification, importation, exportation, sale, leasing, or any other distribution of a tangible or intangible device or system, knowing or having reason to know that the device or system is primarily of assistance in decoding an encrypted program-carrying satellite signal without the authorization of the lawful distributor of such signal; and
(b) willful reception (6) or further distribution of a program-carrying signal that originated as an encrypted satellite signal, knowing that it has been decoded without the authorization of the lawful distributor of the signal.
Article 15.8. Enforcement
General Obligations
1. The Parties shall establish provisions for the enforcement of intellectual property rights in their laws, of the same level as that provided in the TRIPS Agreement, in particular Articles 41 through 61.
Presumption of Authorship or Ownership
2. In civil, administrative, and criminal proceedings involving copyright or related rights, each Party shall provide for a presumption that, in the absence of proof to the contrary, the person whose name is indicated in the usual manner is the right holder in the work, performance, phonogram, or broadcast as designated.
Special Measures against Repetitive Copyright Infringers on the Internet
3. Each Party shall endeavor to take effective measures to curtail repetitive infringements of copyright and related rights on the Internet.
Article 15.9. Special Requirements Related to Border Measures
1. Each Party shall provide that any right holder initiating procedures for its competent authorities to suspend release of suspected counterfeit or confusingly similar trademark goods, or pirated copyright goods (7), into free circulation is required to provide adequate evidence to satisfy the competent authorities that, under the laws of the country of importation, there is prima facie an infringement of the right holder's intellectual property right and to supply sufficient information that may reasonably be expected to be within the right holder's knowledge to make the suspected goods reasonably recognizable by its competent authorities. The requirement to provide sufficient information shall not unreasonably deter recourse to these procedures.
2. Where the competent authorities have made a determination that goods are counterfeit or pirated, a Party shall grant the competent authorities the authority to inform the right holder of the names and addresses of the consignor, the importer, and the consignee, and of the quantity of the goods in question.
3. Each Party shall provide that its competent authorities may initiate border measures ex officio with respect to imported, exported, or in-transit merchandise, without the need for a formal complaint from a private party or right holder. Such measures shall be used when there is a reason to believe or suspect that such merchandise is counterfeit or pirated.
Article 15.10. Technology Transfer and Cooperation
Technology Transfer
1. The Parties recognize the importance of technological innovation as well as transfer of technology and dissemination of scientific and technological information to the mutual advantage of technology producers and users. Accordingly, the Parties will seek to develop and encourage cooperation programs, through collaborations in science, technology, and innovation. The Parties shall take into account the cooperation issues and activities developed under the Agreement on Scientific and Technical Cooperation between the Parties, signed in 1981, with the purpose of encouraging and strengthening the cooperative activities on research, innovation, and technology transfer.
2. The Parties agree to exchange views and information on their practices and policies affecting transfer of technology both within their respective territories and with third countries. This shall in particular include measures to facilitate information flows, business partnerships, licensing, and subcontracting. Particular attention shall be paid to the conditions necessary to create an adequate enabling environment for technology transfer in the host
3. Each Party shall take measures, as appropriate, to prevent or control licensing practices or conditions, pertaining to intellectual property rights, which may adversely affect the international transfer of technology and which constitute an abuse of intellectual property rights by right holders.
Cooperation
4. The Parties shall cooperate and collaborate with a view to ensuring effective protection of intellectual property rights and the prevention of trade in goods or services infringing intellectual property rights, subject to their respective legislation, rules, regulations, and government policies. Such cooperation may include:
(a) the exchange, between relevant agencies responsible for the enforcement of intellectual property rights, of information concerning infringement of intellectual property rights;
(b) the encouragement of public awareness regarding the importance of intellectual property protection and the function of intellectual property protection systems to their respective nationals;
(c) the improvement of intellectual property protection systems and their operation; or
(d) the promotion of the development of contacts and cooperation among their respective agencies, including enforcement agencies, educational institutions and other organizations with an interest in the field of intellectual property rights.
5. A Party shall, upon request of the other Party, give proper consideration to any specific cooperation proposal made by the other Party related to the protection and/or enforcement of intellectual property rights.