27 January 2004	Tuesday	04 Zilhaj 1424

ISLAMABAD, Jan 26: The government has decided to launch a campaign against all types of violations of intellectual property rights (IPRs) to eliminate the menace.

This was decided in a high-level meeting headed by Secretary Commerce Kamal Afsar and attended by senior officials of the ministry of interior and the CBR here on Monday.

An official at the commerce ministry said that to this effect the ministry of interior and the Central Board of Revenue would jointly initiate action for the purpose.

He said appropriate instructions were being passed on to provincial governments and field formations to enforce the law strictly through raids, seizures and also take necessary legal action against commercial establishments involved in sales of such illegal products.

The CBR would also depute special personnel at various exit points such as airports and seaports in order to strictly prevent the smuggling of pirated CDs by seizing them and initiating legal proceedings against the offenders.

According to an official announcement, the campaign was being launched to curb this illegal practice which was not only damaging the image of the country, but also was serving as a disincentive for foreign investment.

Being a signatory to the WTO and its Trade Related Intellectual Property (TRIPs) Agreement, Pakistan is under obligation to provide a minimum level of protection to the intellectual property rights.

The meeting was told that Pakistan had upgraded its laws relating to the IPRs to bring them in conformity with WTO agreements. However, in the area of enforcement the situation is not entirely satisfactory and pirated CDs of audio, video and computer software are not only affecting the local markets, but these are also being smuggled to some other countries.