The European Commission has published a report on the protection and enforcement of IPRs in third countries.

Its main objective is to identify third countries in which the state of IPR protection and enforcement gives rise to concern and provide an updated list of so called ‘priority countries’. Such countries are not necessarily those where IPR protection and enforcement are the most problematic in absolute terms but rather those where deficiencies are considered to cause the greatest economic harm to EU interests.

China remains the top priority country, as was the case in previous editions of the report. Other priority countries include Argentina, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.

The aim of the report is to inform rights holders, including SMEs, of the potential risks when conducting business in certain countries. Furthermore, the report includes details of the various EU’s IP activities, including EU funded programmes.