Sudan: New Regulations of Procedure of the Customs Border Measures for the Protection of IPRs
22-Jul-2010
KHARTOUM – Abu-Ghazaleh Intellectual Property (AGIP) would like to inform its clients that the Sudanese Customs Authority has recently issued new Regulations of procedure of Customs Border Measures for the Protection of Intellectual Property Rights in the country.
Customs Authority is responsible for controlling the flow of goods in and out of the country, as well as combating counterfeiting and piracy. The new Regulations have been issued in the direction of comprehensive IPRs protection.
The new border measures are summarized as follows:
1. The Customs Authority has right to stop the entry of counterfeited and pirated products into Sudan.
2. If the right’s owner has decent evidence and information that the registered rights were violated and the imported products are counterfeited or pirated, he can file the request for suspension of the products to the Public Attorney, competent court or directly to the Customs.
3. The right’s owner should initiate the legal proceedings within ten days from notifying him of the seized products; otherwise the request for suspension will be cancelled. However the Customs Authority may extend the mentioned period for further ten days maximum in the required cases
4. The right’s owner has right to inspect the seized products under the supervision of the Customs Authority.
5. If the products are declared counterfeit by the Court decision, they would be seized or destroyed.
Sudanese Customs Authority will establish its own data base for protected Intellectual Property Rights in Sudan.