IP/N/1/PNG/1

Papua New Guinea

[Not Applicable]

Currently, Papua New Guinea has no form of legislation to effectively protect and govern the implementation of IPR matters in the country, except for the Trademarks Act, which is in operation now. However, with the current developments affecting the IPR matters, this Act will need to be reviewed and upgraded to be in compliance with the TRIPS Agreement. The Copyright Act was also established in 1978 but has not been in force since its introduction. Apart from that, Papua New Guinea has various pieces of legislation that deals in part and has bearing on IPR matters. These pieces of legislation do not provide the necessary guidelines and procedures for the full and effective implementation of the IPR matters in the country. However, these pieces of legislation have various sections and provisions that deal with or have a bearing on some aspects of IPR matters and these include: - Medical Act; - Drugs Act; - Animals Act; - Flora and Fauna Protection Act; and - National Constitution of Papua New Guinea Since Papua New Guinea's accession to the WTO, we have realized the urgent need to adopt the necessary policies and legislation for the full implementation of the TRIPS Agreement by the year 2000. As such, we are in the process of taking necessary actions to ensure the necessary preparations before the year 2000 and we will inform the WTO Secretariat accordingly in due course.