Building Respect for IP | 2022 CIFTIS Series Report I

September 5, 2022

Chinese President Xi Jinping sent a congratulatory letter to the 2022 CIFTIS, which opened on August 31 in Beijing, with a theme of "Cooperate for Better Development, Innovate for a Greener Future". 

The CIFTIS is a crucial platform for China to expand opening-up, deepen cooperation and pioneer innovation, which has made a positive contribution to promoting the development of global services industry and services trade, Xi said in the letter. China stays committed to promoting high-quality development by high-level opening-up, broadening market access in the services sector, facilitating opening-up in cross-border services trade, expanding the function of opening-up platforms, and striving to establish a high-standard opening-up system for the services sector, Xi said.

On September 1, the Summit on Fighting against Intellectual Property Rights Infringement and Counterfeiting was held in Beijing during the China International Fair for Trade in Services 2022. The theme of the Summit was "Protecting Intellectual Property, Sharing Reliable Consumption". Ms. Wang Binying, Deputy Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), sent a congratulatory letter to the Summit, while Ms. Gan Lin, Director of the Office of the National Leading Group on Fighting against IPR Infringement and Counterfeiting (NLGO) and Vice Minister of the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR), Mr. Zhang Mao, Executive Vice President of the China Consumers Association (CCA), and Mr. Cui Shuqiang, Executive Vice Mayor of Beijing, delivered opening speeches at the Summit. Ms. Liu Hua, Director of WIPO Office in China (WOC), attended the Summit and delivered a keynote speech.

Wang Binying, Deputy Director General, WIPO

Ms. Wang Bingying said that the Chinese government has made achievements in the field of intellectual property protection and innovation in recent years through top-level policy design, construction of a modern legal system, administrative enforcement, judicial protection and awareness-raising. WIPO and China have a long and fruitful cooperation in promoting understanding and respect for IP.

WIPO sees a promising future of China in building an enabling environment that respect IP and encourage innovation and creation, and looks forward to working with all member states, including China, to build a more innovative and creative global IP ecosystem that benefits all.

Ms. Liu Hua noted that WIPO is committed to promoting international cooperation to build a culture of respect for IP and has done a lot of work in the areas of policy coordination, technical assistance and awareness-raising. WIPO has a long history of good cooperation with China in building respect for IP, as evidenced by the this Summit held under the framework of this year's CIFITS, which highlighted the Chinese government's experience and achievements in protecting IP, combating infringement and counterfeiting, and protecting consumer rights. 

Ms. Liu elaborated global IP trends and introduced measures taken by WIPO to address new challenges and opportunities, and shared the new vision, mission and strategic pillars set out in WIPO's Medium Term Strategic Plan. Liu Hua said that WIPO and WOC will continue to adhere to the people-oriented approach that make IP available to everyone, strengthen partnerships to jointly shape the future IP ecosystem, keep pace with the times to constantly provide high-quality IP service and act proactively to use IP to bring ideas to market.

Ms. Gan Lin stressed that innovation is the first driving force leading development. The Chinese government has always attached great importance to the protection of intellectual property, promoted the legal system in an orderly manner, strengthened administrative and judicial protection, and deeply expanded international cooperation to create a reliable, peaceful and favorable environment for consumers. China will continue to enhance the protection of intellectual property, crack down on infringement and counterfeiting, and continuously raise the level of its consumption promotion capacity, making unremitting efforts to protect the fruits of human civilization and safeguard the good life of the people.

Mr. Zhang Mao stated that consumption has become the main driver of China's economic growth. He said that in order to protect the legitimate rights and interests of consumers more effectively, it is necessary to step up the development of a better consumer protection system, strengthen administrative enforcement and judicial protection, actively promote corporate compliance, industry self-regulation, media supervision and social governance, as well as learn from the advanced experience of consumer protection abroad.

Mr. Cui Shuqiang said that Beijing will continue to solidly promote the work of combating infringement and counterfeiting in conjunction with the objectives and tasks of the construction of the "two regions", the international science and technology innovation centre, the global digital economy benchmark city, and the international consumer centre city, and accelerate the construction of Beijing as the best district for quality and intellectual property.

The Summit was jointly organized by WIPO, SAMR, People's Government of Beijing Municipal, NLGO and CCA. Representatives from the embassies of the European Union, the United Kingdom and Canada, China National Intellectual Property Administration of China, the Ministry of Commerce, the Supreme People's Court and other government departments, as well as representatives from relevant industry associations and enterprises participated in the forum, discussing and exchanging views on the topics on IPR Protection, Consumer Rights and Interest Protection and Social Co-governance Promotion.

About the 2022 China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS)

China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS) is an event co-sponsored by the Ministry of Commerce of China and the Beijing Municipal People's Government. CIFTIS has been successfully held for eight sessions and was upgraded to a national level exhibition in 2020. It has become the global largest comprehensive fair for trade in services and the leading fair for trade in services in China.