1  INTRODUCTION

1. Australia is committed to sharing information with other WTO Members on its technical and financial cooperation activities in the area of intellectual property rights in fulfilment of Article 67 of the TRIPS Agreement.  This is a full report on Australia's intellectual property-related technical cooperation activities with developing and least developed countries. It builds upon annual update reports provided in 2012 (IP/C/W/582/Add.2), 2013 (IP/C/W/593/Add.7), 2014 (IP/C/W/601), 2015 (IP/C/W/610/Add.4), 2016 (IP/C/W/617/Add.1), 2017 (IP/C/W/632/Add.1), 2018 (IP/C/W/647/Add.2), 2019 (IP/C/W/655/Add.4), 2020 (IP/C/R/TC/AUS/1) and 2021 (IP/C/R/TC/AUS/2).
2. Australia fulfils its Article 67 technical cooperation commitment through multilateral, regional and bilateral programs and activities. Many activities are focused on developing and least developed countries in the Indo-Pacific region. Australia works closely with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Secretariat and other partners to assist developing and least developed countries to build their intellectual property capacity and systems.
3. Many of the technical cooperation activities implemented under Article 67 of the TRIPS Agreement align with Australia's strategic focus on using aid as a catalyst to promote economic growth and poverty reduction. This is embedded in the UN Sustainable Development Goals and our future investments, including proposed ongoing support for the WIPO-Australia Funds in Trust program, which will be influenced by these goals.
4. Websites containing information on Australia's intellectual property regime, which may be considered a technical cooperation resource, include the IP Australia website covering patents, designs, trademarks and plant breeders' rights (www.ipaustralia.gov.au); the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications website on copyright developments (www.communications.gov.au/what-we-do/copyright); and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade website on international IP developments (www.dfat.gov.au/ip).

2  AUSTRALIAN ACTIVITIES WITH THE WORLD INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY ORGANISATION (WIPO)

2.1  Australia-WIPO Funds in Trust

5. Since 2012, the Australian Government has supported the Australia-WIPO Funds in Trust (FiT) program, with our support to date totalling AUD 5.8 million. The latest iteration of the program (FiT3) concluded in March 2022. The Australian Government is currently considering funding arrangements for a further phase of the FiT program. FiT promotes economic growth in partner countries by helping to develop and implement Intellectual Property (IP) systems, build capabilities in IP and facilitate technology transfer. It has helped to create an enabling environment for private sector innovation and domestic and foreign investment. Future programs are likely to build off the four current FiT themes: development of the intellectual property system; technology transfer (knowledge transfer and commercialisation); addressing neglected tropical diseases; and copyright and related rights to assist the blind, visually impaired and other persons with print disabilities.
6. FiT3 Activities to support the development of the intellectual property systems included developing a judicial toolkit on IP adjudication ('IP benchbook'') for judges and judicial officers. These were produced for both the Philippines and Viet Nam. The IP benchbooks are an important judicial resource, serving as a core element of future judicial capacity-building programs for judges and judicial officers.

3  OTHER MULTILATERAL AND REGIONAL ACTIVITIES

3.1  Economic Cooperation Support Program and Regional Trade for Development Program under the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Area (AANZFTA)

7. The AANZFTA's Economic Cooperation Support Program (AECSP) consists of the Economic Cooperation Work Program and the AANZFTA Support Unit located in the ASEAN Secretariat. The AECSP was established in 2010 as a five-year program with funding of AUD 20-25 million.  The Program, which was subsequently extended further, aims to support the ASEAN Secretariat in servicing the AANZFTA Joint Committee and its subsidiary bodies to assist ASEAN member States, particularly least developed countries, with AANZFTA's implementation. The AECSP finished on 30 June 2022. Intellectual property is a vital component of the AECSP, with the objective being to "provide comprehensive support for the development of sound and balanced intellectual property systems in the AANZFTA region". The following paragraph outlines one of the intellectual property outcomes achieved under the AECSP with further detail provided in the Annex to this report
8. Since February 2021, IP Australia has participated in the AANZFTA Enhancement of Trade Mark Quality Management Project. This is a capacity‑building project for ASEAN IP offices looking to develop and enhance quality management systems for trademark examination. The first 2 phases of the project consisted of virtual workshops hosted by IP Australia, which involved sharing experiences of various IP offices in applying quality concepts and principles relating to trademark™examination.
9. In September 2021, the Prime Minister announced that Australia will commit AUD 46 million to the Regional Trade for Development (RT4D) Program to provide technical assistance and capacity building to help eligible ASEAN countries implement the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP) and AANZFTA commitments. The following paragraph outlines one of the intellectual property outcomes to be provided under the RT4D Program with further detail provided in the Annex to this report.
10. Since July 2022, IP Australia is developing phase 3 of the project and RCEP scoping. RCEP scoping refers to the preliminary investigative work being done to determine where technical assistance and capacity building could be provided to eligible ASEAN countries to implement their RCEP commitments. A regional workshop is planned for November 2022, which is expected to be held as a hybrid (in-person and online) event in the ASEAN region, to combine lessons learnt from earlier phases with practical steps for the implementation of trademark quality management systems.