ASEAN Project on the Protection of Intellectual Property Rights

The ASEAN Project on the Protection of Intellectual Property Rights (ECAP III) started on 1 January 2010, based on a Financing Agreement signed on 21 October 2009 by the European Commission (EC) and the ASEAN Secretariat (ASEC), and a Contribution Agreement signed on 18 December 2009 by the EC and the European Patent Office (EPO).

ECAP III is a follow-up of ECAP I, which was implemented from 1993 to 1997 with a focus on industrial property rights and strengthening of ASEAN national IPR systems, and ECAP II, which was implemented from 2000 to 2007 and which related to the whole range of IPRs.

The Beneficiary of ECAP III is the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), established in 1967. The ASEAN currently encompasses 10 Member Countries: Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. 

The budget of ECAP III is 5,100,000 €, including 4,500,00 € contributed by the EC, and 600,000 € by the EPO, for an implementation period of 4 years.

Strong intellectual property rights (IPR) protection is crucial to fostering trade, and achieving the goals and benefits of global integration. Countries with high standards of IPR protection tend to attract more investment, stimulate more innovation, thereby developing more rapidly. Countries with inadequate protection are often vulnerable to patent, copyright, and trade mark infringements that hinder trade flow and economic development.

One of the core objectives of the European Union relations with Asia is to strengthen the mutual trade and investment flows. To this end, the EU has launched a series of economic cooperation programmes, including ECAP III.

The overall objective of ECAP III is to further integrate ASEAN countries into the global economy and world trading system to promote economic growth and reduce poverty in the region. The project aims to facilitate ASEAN regional integration through the establishment of a regional institutional capability within ASEC to support policy coordination and drafting of new policies, preparing for Summits and developing existing national and regional structures towards regional ASEAN integration. The actions to be undertaken by the project are to be considered, where applicable, supportive of the EU-ASEAN Free Trade Agreement negotiations as far as IPR issues are concerned.  

Source: http://www.ecap-project.org/ecap3.html