Assistant to the Minister and Chief Market Inspector Lidija Stojanović attended today, at Hotel “Zira” in Belgrade, the launch of the EU funded Twinning Project “Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights”.

The project is the result of Serbian–Danish and British cooperation, and will be funded from the pre-accession funds of the European Union for 24 months.

It aims at enhancing the capacity of the Serbian government on combating counterfeiting and piracy in Serbia, with the involvement of experts from a number of EU member states.

The main beneficiaries include the Ministry of Foreign and Internal Trade and Telecommunication – Market Inspection Sector, the Ministry of Finance – Customs Administration, the Ministry of Interior and the Public Prosecutors Office who all have direct responsibilities when it comes to Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights.

The Intellectual Property Office, being the only institution in Serbia exclusively dealing with Intellectual Property Rights, is also a partner in the project.

The “Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights” project will enhance the capacity of the relevant government bodies.

Its activities will include aligning the Serbian legislation to meet the requirements for future EU accession, and developing a formalized model for cooperation between the institutions involved in the project.

Training targeting the IP enforcement bodies will also be conducted within the framework of the project. Measures aiming at enhancing the IP awareness in Serbian society will also be introduced.