The EVFTA is the result of Vietnam and the EU’s growing bilateral relationship. It is the most modest manifestation of the harmonizing relationship, which aims to promote many aspects of Vietnam-EU relations, particularly in the fields of economy and trade. Furthermore, one of the most significant benefits that Vietnam will gain from this collaboration with the EU is the expansion of IP standards as a result of the EVFTA’s intellectual property commitments.
In many ways, the differences between Vietnam and the EU are significant. As a result, cooperation between Vietnam and the EU has hit some major stumbling blocks in the past, owing to differences in standards between the two parties.
The EVFTA Agreement’s Importance
The EVFTA is a comprehensive, high-quality agreement that ensures a balance of benefits for both Vietnam and the EU while also taking into account the two parties’ different levels of development.
Due to the completion of ratification procedures, the EVFTA officially entered into force on August 1, 2020, and has been a huge boost to Vietnam’s exports, helping market diversification and export products, particularly agricultural and fishery products, as well as Vietnamese products with many competitive advantages.
Strategically, the negotiation and implementation of these Agreements send a positive message about Vietnam’s determination to promote deep integration into the global economy, particularly in light of the world economy’s complexity as a result of the raging Covid-19 pandemic.
The main intellectual property provisions of the EVFTA Agreement
EVFTA is a comprehensive, high-quality agreement that balances benefits for both Vietnam and the EU while adhering to World Trade Organization regulations (WTO).
The Agreement is divided into 17 chapters, two protocols, and several memorandums of understanding, with the main contents being Trade Remedies (including general provisions and commitments to open markets), Customs and Trade Facilitation, Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS), Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT), and so on.
Chapter 12: Intellectual Property is one of the most important aspects of the Agreement.
The main goal of this chapter is, in principle, to facilitate the creation, production, and commercialization of innovative and creative products between the Parties, thereby contributing to a more sustainable and inclusive economy in each Party. It also aims to achieve an adequate and effective level of intellectual property protection and enforcement.
Commitments on intellectual property include commitments on copyright, inventions, patents, pharmaceuticals, geographical indications, and so on. In general, Vietnam’s intellectual property commitments are in line with current laws. The following are some key characteristics of intellectual property commitments:
- In terms of geographical indications, Vietnam will protect over 160 EU geographical indications (including 28 members), while the EU will protect 39 Vietnamese geographical indications. Vietnam’s geographical indications are related to agricultural products and food, creating opportunities for some types of Vietnamese agricultural products to establish and strengthen their brands in the EU market.
- In terms of trademarks, the EU and Vietnam commit to a simple and transparent registration procedure, including a public electronic database of published and registered trademarks, and to allow the cancellation of registered trademarks that are not used within 5 years.
- Border control measures for exports suspected of infringing intellectual property rights are provided for in the Agreement.
- Commitment on most-favored-nation (MFN) treatment: The commitment in this Agreement to the most-favored-nation principle ensures that EU organizations and individuals benefit from high standards of protection not only with intellectual property rights subjects under the WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs), but also with other intellectual property rights subjects in free trade agreements in which Vietnam participates (such as the CPTPP Agreement).