ADVOCACY NEWS
New IP-related Customs
Measures
Author: Darko Bajalski, PETOSEVIC Skopje
Macedonia’s new Law on Customs Measures for Protection of Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) entered
into force on June 5, 2015, bringing about the following
changes:
• Right holders’ representatives no longer have to
obtain consent from offending declarants/importers
before destruction of goods that infringe on IPRs.
Now, Customs will notify the declarant/importer
that their goods have been temporarily detained due
to IPRs infringement, giving them 10 working days to
oppose or consent to their destruction. Their failure to respond within that period will now be considered as tacit consent. Right holders’ should only
confirm the authenticity of the goods;
• The new law introduces the “small consignments
procedure”. Small consignments are defined as consignments containing up to three units and weighing
up to 2 kg. If the right holder choses to accept the
“small consignments procedure”, the Customs will
detain suspicious small consignment ex-officio and
inform the declarant/importer that the goods are
considered as counterfeits and would therefore be
destroyed. If the declarant/importer do not oppose
the destruction within the 10-day period, the goods
will be destroyed. The Customs would not ask for
right holders’ confirmation that the goods are counterfeit in the small consignments procedure.
• Right holders will now be given 4 working days
(rather than 3) to file a Customs Watch Application
(CWA) in case of an ex-officio detention. If this deadline is missed, the goods must be returned to their
owner;
• Instead of filing separate Customs Watch Applica