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26 Nov 2024 EEC and WIPO Strengthen Partnership in Intellectual Property Rights Protection During his working visit to Geneva, Bakhyt Sultanov, Minister in charge of Economy and Financial Policy of the Eurasian Economic Commission, met with Daren Tang, Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). Parties noted the increased intensity of interaction between the EEC and WIPO in 2024. This included a joint subregional webinar on enforcement and respect for intellectual property rights for judicial and law enforcement representatives held in September. The meeting reviewed a comprehensive approach to the protection of intellectual property rights, discussed common infringements, including in the digital environment, and assessed practical problems arising in the investigation and suppression of such infringements. "We take an active part in the arranged events, hold regular working meetings, including summit meetings," said Bakhyt Sultanov. The parties agreed to continue their interaction, including at WIPO committees and panels and the International Anti-Counterfeiting Forum. WIPO is a specialized agency of the UN system, having 193 Member States. At the Assemblies meetings of the Member States of WIPO held in 2014, the EEC was granted permanent observer status at WIPO. On May 7, 2019 a Memorandum of Understanding was concluded between WIPO and the EEC.
26 Nov 2024 EEC Invited IOM to Create International Employment Platform Speaking at the 115th meeting of the Council of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Geneva, Bakhyt Sultanov, Minister in charge of Economy and Financial Policy of the Eurasian Economic Commission, proposed to create an international employment platform. According to the EEC Minister, such a platform could accumulate information on vacancies and working conditions. "The introduction of digital technologies in the regulation of migration processes is key to ensuring the legality of migrants' employment and stay in the country. Digitalization simplifies access to services, reduces costs for job searches and prospective employees, and streamlines migration processes," the EEC Minister said. Bakhyt Sultanov spoke about the specifics of regulating migration processes in the Eurasian Economic Union countries, as well as the EEC work on the development of the EAEU common labor market using digital technologies. "The Commission is working with the EAEU countries to expand possibilities for migrant workers to access public services in the host country in electronic form," emphasized Bakhyt Sultanov. The EEC cooperates with IOM on the basis of the Memorandum of Cooperation dated April 12, 2013. The parties are now working on updating it. In addition, the EEC and IOM have recently started to develop a pilot project to improve the financial literacy of migrant workers in the EAEU. According to Bakhyt Sultanov, there is a growing need for qualified personnel in the global labor market, and the EEC is ready to share its experience in regulating the flow of skilled labor, including the development and implementation of mechanisms for establishing a common list of in-demand professions, the convergence of requirements to qualifications and the development of skill and qualification platforms. As part of the event, Altynai Omurbekova, Director of the EEC Labor Migration and Social Welfare Department, met with Parul Mehra, Project Coordinator and Acting Head of the IOM Global Network Secretariat. The parties exchanged views on best practices in international regulation of labor migration processes and identified ways for further cooperation between the EEC and IOM.
14 Nov 2024 EAEU intellectual property protection to be discussed at 12th International Forum “Anti-Counterfeiting” in Astana The Eurasian Economic Commission, the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the International Anti-Counterfeiting Association will hold the 12th International Forum “Anti-Counterfeiting” on December 5-6 in Astana. The Forum, dedicated to relevant matters of protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights, will become a venue for discussing key challenges and finding efficient solutions to combat the spread of counterfeit goods. In 2019 – 2023, the Eurasian Economic Union countries detected over 46 thousand violations in the field of intellectual property and seized more than 60 mln units of counterfeit goods. According to Bakhyt Sultanov, EEC Minister in charge of Economy and Financial Policy, the combination of “law enforcement” tools with economic incentives for developing foreign trade activities and legal production in the EAEU countries is aimed at ousting counterfeit and fake products from the market. “I am convinced that these issues will be professionally discussed at the Forum “Anti-Counterfeiting”, which will undoubtedly contribute to improving the struggle against counterfeit products circulating in the Eurasian Economic Union's market,” the EEC Minister noted. The Forum program includes a plenary session involving lead experts in the field of intellectual property, 10 discussion sessions devoted to legal regulation, customs control, consumer rights protection, e-commerce development, as well as the application of IT-technologies in the field of intellectual property. The event will be attended by representatives of ministries and agencies, right holders, manufacturers, consumer associations, experts, representatives of professional communities and mass media of the EAEU countries. This year the Forum expands its geographical coverage by inviting representatives of the diplomatic corps and companies from India, Iran, China, Tunisia, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
06 Nov 2024 EEC developed recommendation on using regulatory reviews in key service sectors The Eurasian Economic Commission prepared a recommendation on using regulatory reviews in key service sectors in the countries of the Eurasian Economic Union. At the current stage, tourism and general construction services are identified as key sectors.  The documents were developed in fulfillment of the Action Plan for implementing the Strategy for Developing the Eurasian Economic Integration until 2025.  The Commission, jointly with authorized authorities of the EAEU countries, analyzed national and international practices of regulating tourism and general construction services and prepared analytical reviews and a recommendation.  According to Bakhyt Sultanov, EEC Minister in charge of Economy and Financial Policy, the study shows that the regulation of these areas in the EAEU countries is similar in many respects:  "The analysis resulted in a conclusion that there are similarities in the regulation of the tourism services sector and a fundamental homogeneity of national regulatory measures for general construction works."   The EEC Minister has mentioned that the developed recommendation is an important step to explore best practices, including the international regulatory experience cited in the reviews. This will create favorable conditions for business development and improve the quality of services for citizens.
24 Oct 2024 EAEU unites students: 5th Eurasian Youth Scientific and Practical School held in Almaty On October 21-23, Almaty hosted the 5th Eurasian Youth Scientific and Practical School, which gathered 170 students from the CIS countries. Traditionally held at the Peoples' Friendship University of Russia, this year's school was organized in Kazakhstan. The event was timed to coincide with several significant dates: the tenth anniversary of signing the Treaty on the Eurasian Economic Union, the start of Kazakhstan's chairmanship of the Eurasian Economic Commission and the 90th anniversary of the Al-Farabi Kazakh National University. In his welcoming remarks, Bakhyt Sultanov, EEC Minister in charge of Economy and Financial Policy, emphasized the importance of academic exchange and the benefits of the Eurasian integration for young people and students. “We see that the Eurasian integration opens up new opportunities for young people. Students, gaining knowledge about the EAEU activities, can contribute to developing integration processes,” Bakhyt Sultanov noted. This year, the school was attended by the Commission's experts from the units on economy and financial policy, trade, internal markets, customs cooperation, manufacturing industry and agricultural sector. The Commission's representatives informed on the principles of the EAEU functioning and its advantages for the countries, as well as on the EEC's efforts to remove obstacles and barriers in the Union's internal markets. The students learned about the industrial cooperation development, as well as interaction in the EAEU agricultural sector. A separate lecture was devoted to the nuances of harmonizing import duty rates at the supranational level, which prepared students for the business game “Model of the Eurasian Economic Commission”. As part of the game, the participants simulated the work of the Subcommittee on Customs and Tariff Regulation of the Advisory Committee on Trade under the EEC Board.
16 Oct 2024 Eurasian integration: business feels more comfortable in EAEU The Eurasian Economic Commission's Board considered the report on the results of monitoring the impact of integration processes on the business environment for 2023. The report, prepared on the basis of the methodology approved by the EEC Board, demonstrates positive trends over the past year in all key indicators of the Eurasian integration impact on the business environment in the Eurasian Economic Union. The number of enacted EAEU technical regulations increased to 47 in the field of technical regulation, and the share of interstate standards in the lists of standards reached 67%. Significant progress was registered in removing barriers to the mutual trade growth: 10 barriers and 1 restriction were removed in 2023. The share of positive opinions on the regulatory impact assessment of draft EEC decisions reached the maximum level since 2015 (98%), which indicates the general focus of the Commission's decisions on improving the business environment. “The report confirms that the Union's integration processes bear actual fruit, contributing to business development and raising the living standards of the population. We can see that the EAEU moves steadily towards making a single market of services – 142 sectors have already been included in it so far. This creates new opportunities for business and contributes to the economic growth of all participating countries,” commented Bakhyt Sultanov, EEC Minister in charge of Economy and Financial Policy. The volume of mutual trade in goods between the EAEU States increased by 4.7% in 2023 compared to 2022. Along with that, the volume of mutual trade in services for the same period increased by 22.3%. “On the one hand, these figures show the need for establishing and expanding the EAEU single market of services, and on the other hand, they show that the dynamics of mutual trade diversification within the EAEU is in line with the global trend to increase the volume and share of trade in services compared to trade in goods,” Bakhyt Sultanov said. Positive trends are registered in labor migration, the growth indicator of which increased by 35% in 2023. The registered unemployment rate in the EAEU as a whole reached a record low of 0.8%. In most Union States, there is a steady growth trend in the number of operating legal entities and small enterprises. An increase in the volume of accumulated direct investments between the EAEU States by 11.2% was registered. The report will be sent to the EAEU Member Governments and will be published on the EEC website as well.
09 Oct 2024 "We plan to intensify cooperation with UNCITRAL for the development of international trade law", Bakhyt Sultanov says Bakhyt Sultanov, Minister for Economy and Financial Policy of the Eurasian Economic Commission, took part in the 80th session of the UN Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) at the organization's headquarters in Vienna. During his visit, the EEC Minister met with UNCITRAL leadership and experts to discuss enhancement of cooperation between the organizations. "In order to formalize the dynamically developing relations between our organizations, I believe it is necessary to address the possibility of signing a Memorandum of Understanding, as well as to start the necessary coordination procedures for its subsequent signing during the regular UNCITRAL session in 2025," said Bakhyt Sultanov. According to the EEC Minister, the Commission is interested in implementing UNCITRAL best practices into the law of the Eurasian Economic Union and developing cooperation in analytics. In turn, UNCITRAL representatives expressed their readiness to share available analytical information and maintain close ties with the EAEU countries. At the end of the meeting, the parties confirmed their readiness to further expand cooperation, agreed to address the topics for future webinar sessions to be held in the Union states, as well as to organize a regional event in the EAEU in 2026, timed to coincide with the 60th anniversary of UNCITRAL. The United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) is the principal agency in the UN system dealing with international trade law. UNCITRAL is engaged in preparing statutory instruments in a number of areas such as international contractual practice, shipping documents, insolvency, electronic commerce, and dispute settlement, including Investor-State disputes.
09 Oct 2024 EAEU countries recorded 4,667 intellectual property violations in 2023 In 2023, the volume of detected counterfeit goods in the Eurasian Economic Union countries amounted to 5.8 mln units. This was reported by Ernar Bakenov, Director of the EEC Business Development Department, to the members of the Advisory Committee on Intellectual Property under the Eurasian Economic Commission's Board. According to him, “the leading positions on counterfeiting in the EAEU Member States are occupied by clothing and footwear, games and toys, spare parts for motor vehicles, food products, alcoholic beverages, household appliances, electronics and accessories”. The Commission presented a number of analytical reports including statistical indicators from 2019 through 2023 to the Committee for consideration at its meeting on October 9. The documents include an analytical review for the last five years with proposals to develop the intellectual property within the Union and recommendations to improve the States' legal regulations, as well as a report on the monitoring of law enforcement practice in protecting the EAEU countries' intellectual property rights for 2023. “In the near future we will publish on the Union's official website an analytical review on the EAEU States‘ intellectual property, as well as a report on the state of law enforcement practice in protecting the EAEU countries’ intellectual property rights for 2023,” Ernar Bakenov noted. Besides, the members considered proposals to the draft Action Plan for implementing the Declaration on Further Development of Economic Processes within the Union until 2030 and for the period until 2045 “The Eurasian Economic Path” in the field of intellectual property. The meeting considered the practice of granting legal protection of information constituting trade secrets (“know-how”) in the EAEU countries, as well as special aspects of implementing the Agreement on trademarks, service marks and appellations of origin of the Union's goods. The Committee members also discussed launching a common customs register of intellectual properties, forming coordinated approaches to combating violations of intellectual property rights on the Internet and creating a search service for industrial properties protected in the EAEU States. The Advisory Committee on Intellectual Property under the EEC Board was established on September 25, 2012. It is composed of heads and deputy heads of ministries and agencies as well as business community representatives from the EAEU States.  
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