TECHNICAL COOPERATION ACTIVITIES:

INFORMATION FROM MEMBERS

Canada

The following communication, dated 11 October 2020, is being circulated at the request of the delegation of Canada.

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1  Introduction

1.  Pursuant to Article 67 of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), the Council for TRIPS requests that developed country Members report on their technical and financial cooperation programmes in favour of developing and least developed countries (LDCs). The present document provides an update on Canada's activities in respect of technical and financial cooperation in the area of intellectual property (IP) in favour of developing countries and LDCs, covering the 2019-2020 period.

2.  Canada has undertaken a number of technical cooperation activities at the multilateral, plurilateral, and bilateral levels. At the multilateral level, Canada works in close collaboration with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), as well as the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Intellectual Property Rights Expert's Group (APEC-IPEG) where Canada participates in the group's biannual deliberations aimed at sharing information and best practices on IP rights. In addition, Canada's technical cooperation activities are administered by the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO), Global Affairs Canada, the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). Other Canadian institutions that receive funding from the Government of Canada, such as the Centre for Trade Policy and Law (CTPL) and the University of Ottawa, are also involved in international technical cooperation efforts.