Customs protection of intellectual property rights
Thirtieth anniversary
1994-2024
General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that innovation is the first driving force to lead development, and the protection of intellectual property rights is to protect innovation. As an important part of the whole chain of intellectual property protection, customs protection of intellectual property rights plays a vital role in promoting the quality and efficiency of foreign trade, and creating a market-oriented, law-based, international, first-class business environment.
The year 2024 marks the 30th anniversary of the launch of the customs protection of intellectual property rights, and under the strong leadership of the Party Committee of the General Administration of Customs, the customs protection of intellectual property rights has always adhered to the equal emphasis on combating infringement and service innovation, and has achieved remarkable and fruitful results in carrying out law enforcement supervision, optimizing service measures, promoting scientific and technological empowerment, deepening international cooperation, etc., and has made customs contributions to serving high-level opening-up and promoting high-quality development.
01
01
In July 1994, the State Council promulgated the Decision on Further Strengthening the Protection of Intellectual Property Rights. In August of the same year, the General Administration of Customs issued the Circular on Strengthening the Protection of Intellectual Property Rights in Customs Supervision Work, opening a chapter in the customs protection of intellectual property rights.
02
In September 1994, Huanggang Customs, a subsidiary of Shenzhen Customs, seized 4,750 pirated CDs, which became the first intellectual property infringement case seized by China Customs.
03
In July 1995, the State Council promulgated the Regulations of the People's Republic of China on Customs Protection of Intellectual Property Rights by Order No. 179, which was the first administrative regulation on customs protection of intellectual property rights in China.
04
In September 1995, Decree No. 54 of the General Administration of Customs promulgated the Implementation Measures of the Customs of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of Intellectual Property Rights, which is the first departmental regulation of the Customs of China on the Customs Protection of Intellectual Property Rights.
05
In November 1995, the General Administration of Customs approved the first application for the filing of customs protection of intellectual property rights - the application for the filing of the registered trademark "DIAMOND" by Guangzhou Light Industry.
06
In May 1997, the General Administration of Customs and the Motion Picture Association of America (MPA) signed the first memorandum of cooperation between China Customs and the industry on intellectual property protection.
07
In July 2000, the revised Customs Law of the People's Republic of China was promulgated, adding new content related to the customs protection of intellectual property rights.
08
Since 2006, the General Administration of Customs (GAC) has issued the White Paper on the Protection of Intellectual Property Rights of China Customs every year, providing a comprehensive introduction to the measures taken by China Customs to protect intellectual property rights and the effectiveness of law enforcement.
09
In October 2013, the first exhibition hall of China Customs Intellectual Property Protection was officially opened to the public in Yiwu Customs, a subsidiary of Hangzhou Customs.
10
In April 2014, the customs offices directly under the government began to actively disclose case information on the web portal, and gradually established a legal disclosure system for information on administrative punishment cases of import and export of goods infringing on intellectual property rights.
11
In April 2015, the State Council decided to launch a three-year "Qingfeng" action to maintain the overseas image of Made in China, and China Customs continued to increase the crackdown on the import and export of infringing goods, and further established a good image of "Made in China".
12
Since 2017, the Customs has deployed the "Dragon Operation" every year, and since 2020, the Customs has carried out the "Blue Net" and "Clean Net" special actions every year to maintain a high-pressure posture of cracking down on infringement.
13
In 2022, the Party Committee of the General Administration of Customs conscientiously implemented the cooperation concept of "Smart Customs, Smart Border, and Smart Connectivity" proposed by General Secretary Xi Jinping, vigorously strengthened the construction of smart customs, carried out the action of "strengthening the country through smart customs", and relied on the empowerment of science and technology, innovated supervision methods, and comprehensively improved the efficiency of customs protection of intellectual property rights.
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02
History of the legislation
· In July 1995, the State Council promulgated the Regulations of the People's Republic of China on Customs Protection of Intellectual Property Rights by Order No. 179, the first administrative regulation on the customs protection of intellectual property rights.
· In September 1995, Decree No. 54 of the General Administration of Customs promulgated the Implementation Measures of the Customs of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of Intellectual Property Rights, the first departmental regulation on the protection of intellectual property rights.
· In July 2000, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress passed a resolution amending the Customs Law of the People's Republic of China to define the functions of customs in the protection of intellectual property rights.
· In December 2003, the State Council promulgated the Regulations of the People's Republic of China on the Customs Protection of Intellectual Property Rights by Order No. 395, and the Regulations of the People's Republic of China on the Customs Protection of Intellectual Property Rights promulgated by Order No. 179 of the State Council were repealed at the same time.
· In May 2004, Decree No. 114 of the General Administration of Customs promulgated the Implementation Measures of the Customs of the People's Republic of China on the Regulations of the People's Republic of China on the Customs Protection of Intellectual Property Rights. The Implementation Measures of the Customs of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of Intellectual Property Rights promulgated by Order No. 54 of the General Administration of Customs shall be repealed at the same time.
· In March 2009, Decree No. 183 of the General Administration of Customs promulgated the Implementation Measures of the Customs of the People's Republic of China on the Regulations of the People's Republic of China on the Customs Protection of Intellectual Property Rights. The Measures of the Customs of the People's Republic of China on the Implementation of the Regulations of the People's Republic of China on the Customs Protection of Intellectual Property Rights promulgated by Order No. 114 of the General Administration of Customs shall be repealed at the same time.
· In March 2010, the State Council promulgated Order No. 572 of the State Council on Amending the Regulations of the People's Republic of China on Customs Protection of Intellectual Property Rights.
· In March 2018, the State Council issued Order No. 698 of the State Council on Amending and Repealing Some Administrative Regulations, deleting Article 32 of the Regulations of the People's Republic of China on the Customs Protection of Intellectual Property Rights.
· In May 2018, the General Administration of Customs (GAC) issued Decree No. 240 on Amending Certain Regulations, amending part of the Implementation Measures of the Customs of the People's Republic of China on the Regulations of the People's Republic of China on the Customs Protection of Intellectual Property Rights promulgated by GAC Order No. 183.
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03
(a)
Special law enforcement actions to enhance protection capabilities
Customs continues to carry out a series of special actions to crack down on the import and export of infringing goods and articles through freight, postal delivery, express mail and cross-border e-commerce.
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· 2006: Special action to crack down on infringement of intellectual property rights through postal express channels, and special enforcement activities of customs on intellectual property rights in the Yangtze River Delta region
· 2007: Operation Dragon Boat
· 2008: Special action to protect the Olympic symbols
· 2009: Special Action for the Protection of Intellectual Property Rights in Postal and Express Channels
· 2010: The National Customs Special Action on the Protection of Intellectual Property Rights at the 2010 World Expo, and the National Customs Special Action to Crack Down on Intellectual Property Rights Infringement and the Production and Sale of Counterfeit and Shoddy Goods
· 2011: China-Japan-ROK Customs Joint Enforcement Action on Intellectual Property Rights
· 2012: "National Shield" operation, special rectification work against counterfeit drugs, food and auto parts, and joint enforcement of intellectual property rights by China, Japan and South Korea Customs
· 2013: U.S.-China Customs Joint Enforcement Action against Counterfeit Consumer Electronics
· 2014: "Green Action", key enforcement of intellectual property protection in postal express channels
· 2015: Made in China overseas image maintenance "Qingfeng" action, import and export mail express intellectual property protection key rectification
· 2016: Special action for the protection of intellectual property rights of exported electric self-balancing vehicles, special governance of infringement and counterfeiting in the Internet field, and joint enforcement of intellectual property rights of China-US Customs
· 2017: China-US Customs Joint Enforcement Action on Intellectual Property Rights, Special Governance of Infringement and Counterfeiting in the Internet Sector, and Action on Intellectual Property Protection of Foreign-invested Enterprises
· Every year since 2017: "Dragon Teng" action
· 2018: Sino-Russian Customs World Cup Joint Enforcement Action on Intellectual Property Protection
· Every year since 2019: Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Customs Joint Enforcement Action on Intellectual Property Protection
· Every year from 2020: "Blue Net Action" and "Clean Net Action"
· 2021: Strengthened customs protection of the exclusive rights of Olympic symbols
· 2022: "Cyber Sword Operation"
· 2023: Special action to promote development and security in the supervision of the online market
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(b)
Remarkable results have been achieved in law enforcement and supervision
In 2023, customs across the country will detain 62,100 batches and 82,889,400 pieces of infringing goods for import and export. Over the past 30 years, customs across the country have detained a total of 620,100 batches and 2.677 billion pieces of infringing goods.
During the Beijing Olympic Games, the General Administration of Customs handled more than 130 customs protection records for the Beijing Olympic Organizing Committee, and the national customs seized nearly 300 batches of import and export goods infringing on the exclusive rights of Olympic symbols, with a case value of nearly 3 million yuan. Mr. Howard, Director of the Legal Department of the International Olympic Committee, sent a special letter to the General Administration of Customs on the closing day of the Olympic Games to express his gratitude: "As the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games are about to close, I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincere gratitude and deep gratitude to you and the customs at all ports for your full support and cooperation before and during the opening of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. The IOC looks forward to continued support and cooperation in the future. ”
In 2010, the work of the special action on intellectual property protection of the World Expo of the customs system was highly praised by relevant parties, and a total of 31 collectives and 67 individuals were awarded the advanced collectives and advanced individuals of the special action on intellectual property protection of the World Expo.
(c)
Law enforcement cooperation continues to deepen
Customs actively participates in the comprehensive management of intellectual property protection, strengthens internal and external coordination, deepens the multi-dimensional cooperation mechanism between customs, customs enterprises and customs localities, and actively builds a work pattern for the protection of intellectual property rights. In 2006, the General Administration of Customs and the Ministry of Public Security jointly formulated the Interim Provisions on Strengthening Cooperation in the Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights to promote the convergence of customs administrative law enforcement and criminal justice, and to strengthen the supervision and handling of case transfers. In 2012, the General Administration of Customs (GAC) and the former State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to cooperate in various fields, including the enforcement of intellectual property rights, and jointly formulated the Interim Provisions on Strengthening Cooperation in Enforcement of the Right to Exclusive Use of Trademarks.
04
The national customs will coordinate and promote the implementation of various measures to promote the stability and quality of foreign trade, help enterprises relieve difficulties and reduce costs, adhere to the principle of loving enterprises, helping enterprises and benefiting enterprises, improve the long-term mechanism of serving enterprises, and effectively do practical things and solve problems for enterprises. Guide enterprises to make good use of customs protection policies, formulate measures to benefit enterprises, guide enterprises to protect their rights, enhance their innovation capabilities, and help enterprises develop with high quality.
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05
In recent years, in the face of internal and external challenges of large-scale import and export trade, multiple transaction forms, and high regulatory requirements, the Customs has fully implemented the deployment requirements of "comprehensively promoting the construction of socialist modern customs with smart customs as the starting point", promoted the in-depth integration of intellectual property customs protection and the "smart customs power" action, and comprehensively optimized the law enforcement chain through technology empowerment, so as to realize the digital transformation and intelligent upgrading of intellectual property customs protection.
(a)
Optimize the ICP filing process
Launched in 1997, after years of upgrading and improvement, the system has multiple functions such as online query of filing information, submission of filing application, and self-management of filing, ranging from the filing fee of 800 yuan per item to free processing, from paper filing certificate to paperless filing, which reduces the cost of rights protection and facilitates the protection of rights of enterprises. As of 2023, the General Administration of Customs has approved a total of 180,000 filings for customs protection of intellectual property rights, and 37,700 rights holders have registered in the filing system.
(b)
Improve detection capabilities
The smart drawing review function module is embedded in the mobile inspection individual equipment, which realizes the rapid comparison and identification of the pictures in the inspection goods and the intellectual property filing system, accelerates the verification of the intellectual property status of import and export goods, and promotes more accurate identification of infringing goods and more efficient enforcement of intellectual property rights. Develop an intelligent infringement risk screening model, connect with the big data analysis platform, automatically collect the commodity name, commodity code, specification model, source of goods and other related data in the customs declaration, manifest and other documents, and combine the data of infringement detection, reverse notification, external intelligence and other data to carry out big data analysis, put forward precise control requirements, and achieve effective investigation.
(c)
Improve the speed of rights confirmation
The pilot cloud right confirmation uses instant messaging to carry out remote online right confirmation, remote identification, and backfilling of right confirmation data with right holders, so as to realize the real-time interaction between customs and right holders on right confirmation data, and effectively improve the efficiency of IP enforcement and customs clearance.
06
(a)
Institutional law enforcement cooperation has been deepened and solidified
Actively serve the country's diplomatic layout of major countries in the new era, expand the breadth and depth of customs enforcement cooperation on intellectual property rights with overseas customs, continue to carry out cooperation in data exchange, case information sharing, legislative and enforcement practice exchanges, cross-border joint enforcement actions, etc., and jointly explore best practices for customs protection of intellectual property rights in the field of international trade.
(b)
Multilateral exchanges and cooperation are global-oriented
Actively participate in multilateral intellectual property affairs such as the World Customs Organization, the World Intellectual Property Organization, Interpol, APEC, and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, deeply participate in the formulation of intellectual property protection rules, implement the customs protection provisions of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement, and promote the docking of the mainland's intellectual property customs protection work with international high standards. Select business backbones to participate in the certification assessment of intellectual property protection experts of the World Customs Organization, and support the World Customs Organization to send certified Chinese customs experts to carry out intellectual property protection tasks. Provide training on intellectual property protection for the customs of developing countries, African countries and countries jointly building the Belt and Road, and actively participate in capacity building.
International honors
· In 2006, it was awarded the "Global Anti-Counterfeiting Annual Government Agency Commendation Award" by the Global Anti-Counterfeiting Organization.
· In 2007, 15 Chinese customs officers engaged in intellectual property protection were awarded the "Outstanding Law Enforcement Officers" by the World Customs Organization. In 2007, he was awarded the "2007 Special Contribution Award for Combating Counterfeiting and Piracy" by the World Customs Organization.
· In 2009, it was awarded the "Outstanding Contribution Institution for Intellectual Property Protection in China" by the Quality Brand Protection Committee of the China Association of Enterprises with Foreign Investment.
· In 2011, it was awarded the "2011 Global Anti-Counterfeiting Government Agency of the Year Award" by the Global Anti-Counterfeiting Organization, and was the only government agency in the world to receive this award this year.
· In 2015, he was awarded the "International Intellectual Property Crime Investigation Cooperation Award" by INTERPOL.
· In 2015 and 2017, the Intellectual Property Department of Yiwu Customs and the Legal Department of Huangpu Customs under Hangzhou Customs were successively awarded the "Trademark Protection Award" of the "China Trademark Gold Award" of the former State Administration for Industry and Commerce and the World Intellectual Property Organization.
· In 2018, AmCham China released the 2018 International Intellectual Property Index Report, which gave full marks to China Customs for the transparency of IP enforcement.
· In 2023, he was awarded the "2022 China Copyright Gold Award" by the National Copyright Administration and the World Intellectual Property Organization.
Xiongguan Mandao is really like iron, and now it is stepping forward from the beginning. Over the past 30 years, we have witnessed the historical leap of customs protection of intellectual property rights from scratch and from existence to excellence. We have established a sound system of laws and regulations, created an efficient and convenient law enforcement mechanism, and cultivated a professional and capable law enforcement team. We have interpreted the profound connotation of customs protection of intellectual property rights with practical actions, helping to stimulate the vitality of social innovation and promote high-quality economic development.
Looking forward to the future, China will continue to adhere to the principles of openness, inclusiveness, balance and inclusiveness, strengthen exchanges and cooperation with all sectors of society in the field of intellectual property, promote the development of global intellectual property governance in a more fair and reasonable direction, and make innovation more beneficial to people of all countries.
The customs protection of intellectual property rights will be passed on from generation to generation under the relay of customs people, a blueprint will be drawn to the end, and one generation after another, on the track of continuous construction and improvement of the rule of law, in the guarantee of scientific and technological innovation and smart customs construction, and with the joint efforts of the whole society, we will write a new glorious chapter in the customs protection of intellectual property rights, and contribute to the development of new quality productive forces and the construction of Chinese-style modernization.
Please indicate the source of the reprint: "Customs Release"
Contributed by Hangzhou Customs
Executive Producer / Tao Yong
Review/ Hao Yiran, Bao Yinghui
Editor/ Dai Jun
Art Editor / Wei Hao