In the morning of 15th November, the General Administration of China Customs (GACC) held a nation-wide conference on IPR protection in Kunming, capital city of Yunnan Province. Mr. Mu Xinsheng, the director-general of GACC attended this conference, which was the first such meeting held in China Customs' history.

Mr. Mu said that with the development of economic globalization and the regional economic integration, the function of customs in the world was undergoing profound changes, so did China Customs as well. "There are new changes confronted by the China Customs. On the one hand, the traditional functions, such as collecting customs revenue, supervising imports and exports, striking against smuggle, and collecting statistics, have become even more complicated. On the other, there are higher requirements for new duties now. These changes are either challenges or opportunities. To crackdown on illegal activities against IP laws in passing in or out customs, the China Customs should enhance IPR protection through positive law enforcement in larger fields and serve as a guardian to promote the social and economic development," Mr. Mu noted.

The participants to the conference reviewed their IPR protection work in recent years, and furthered their determination in IPR protection. General strategy and concrete requirements under the new situation were achieved in the conference.

"The Top 10 Customs IPR Cases in 2006" were awarded certificates in the conference, and Mr. Gong Zheng, the deputy director-general of  GACC, other 11 department directors as well as directors of 12 local customs administrations directly under the GACC attended the conference.

(www.customs.gov.cn/YWStaticPage/3905/7c0cde19.htm)