DCFTA: Public Services

The EU and Georgia signed an Association Agreement on 27 June 2014. It has entered into force since 1 July 2016. The agreement introduces a preferential trade regime – the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA). This regime increases market access between the EU and Georgia based on having better-matched regulations.

Government entities ensure the following services in order to meet the technical requirements set out in the DCFTA between Georgia and the EU, and to support the export of goods and services from Georgia to EU markets:

Delivering of the European Standards – EU standards are accessible for Georgian producers through LEPL Georgian National Agency for Standards and Metrology, which is the member of the European Standard Organizations (CEN, GENELEC), and therefore the only authorized Agency to provide EU standards to producers.

European standards are marked with EN, in the same way as other international standards with ISO or IEC. Like other international standards, the European standard is a paid service and is available for purchase at the LEPL Georgian National Agency for Standards and Metrology.

Important:

When purchasing a standard, the producer receives the text of the standard and not the certificate itself. Certification depends on the successful implementation of the purchased standard into the production process.  

Conformity Assessment (Certification) – conformity assessment is a process, which means to define the compliance between the product/service and EU directives/standards. After confirming the compliance, the Certificate is issued.

Conformity in Georgia is assessed by accredited laboratories, inspection, or certification institutions. All these institutions are private entities that have received respective accreditation at the LEPL United National Body of Accreditation, Accreditation Centre.

For the EU to recognize a certificate issued in Georgia and allow the certified product/service to the European market, it is mandatory to have a recognition from the Georgian Accreditation Centre by EU respective body – EA (European Accreditation).

LEPL the United National Body of Accreditation, Accreditation Centre is a state organization which assigns accreditation to the laboratories, inspection and certification bodies, which  for their part provide service to the enterprises. At present, the Accreditation Centre works intensively to receive the recognition of EA. After the recognition is received, the EU will recognize the organizations accredited by the Accreditation Centre; hence the certificates issued by them will be recognized in EU member states.

Registration as a Food Manufacturer – any person engaged in the initial production of food for selling, including fruit-growing, animal breeding, fishing, mariculture, and milk collection, is obliged to register as a Food Manufacturer. If a person has an unorganized initial production (fruit picking in own yards and unsystematic selling on-site) and/or production for own consumption, he/she is not obliged to register as a Food Manufacturer.

Registration as a Food Manufacturer can be done at the LELP National Agency of Public Registry (NAPR) of the Ministry of Justice of Georgia. To be registered as a Food Manufacturer, one should apply to the LELP National Agency of Public Registry (NAPR) of the Ministry of Justice of Georgia and submit owned data in order to be filled in the database. If one is already registered as an entrepreneur, he/she should apply at NAPR for making amendments to food-related activities in the existing registration data.  For example, if one is registered as an individual entrepreneur or Ltd, the following changes/additions will be done in the registration data:

• Activity type (add food production, distribution and/or realization);
• Products (meat products, fruit and vegetables, juice, water, etc.).

It should be noted that production without such registration is prohibited and is punishable under applicable Georgian laws. It is important to have exact and factual information about the activity type and produced products in the database. The aforementioned information is a basis for assessment of food-related risks, done by the National Food Agency (NFA). Due to the large and variable information about production type and produced products, the probability of risk is higher and NFA receives decision based on the high-risk probability.

Validation of the Business Operator – producer which is engaged in the initial production does not require validation as the Business Operator by the controlling body. The validation for the registered business operator is a process, to confirm its production conformity with the legislation, which establishes during the inspection, made in the enterprise by the controlling body. According to the Georgian legislation and EU regulations, validation is not required from the controlling body for:

• Family production; and/or
• Business operator, with initial production;

Certificate of Origin– Certificate of Origin is a document issued by the Georgian Revenue Service, confirming the origin of the product. The purpose of the Certificate is to confirm the Georgian origin (produced in Georgia) of the product. For the product, produced in Georgia, In order to benefit from the EU free trade terms, the product must be produced in Georgia and the Certificate of Origin (EUR 1) must be issued. The additional information can be found here.

Metrological Measurements – metrology is a science about measurement and its use. One of the major areas of metrology is industrial metrology, which ensures the proper functioning of measuring devices used in industry, production and testing processes (scales, different types of the length measurement devices, pipettes and thermometers used in chemical and pharmaceutical production, voltmeters, etc).

The Metrology Institute of the Agency provides the enterprises with the following services: calibration, validation, approval and recognition of the measurement devices; recognition of initial verification results; export/official measurement and other services, defined by the legislation.

Intellectual Property – intellectual property is an important tool for any private company to generate economic benefits in knowledge–based economy. Intellectual property contributes to the improvement of enterprise competitiveness, which at the end is the prerequisite for country development.  In the developed countries, business organizations are focused on investing in the business with the intellectual property, obtaining and protecting their rights.

LEPL National Intellectual Property Centre –Sakpatenti registers Intellectual Property Rights in Georgia. Main areas of intellectual property are:

• Trademark;
• Geographical indications and appellations of origin;
• Design;
• Invention, useful model;
• Copyright and neighboring rights;

Trademark – Exclusive right in a trademark is valid only on the territory of a country, where the trademark was registered. There are two ways of registering the rights on trademark abroad:

• File the application of trademark registration in the applicable country’s relevant body. In this case, trademark registration in Georgia is not mandatory;
• Distribution of the trademark, registered in Georgia, according to the Protocol Relating to the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks, including in EU countries. For this purpose, applicant or the owner should apply to the Sakpatenti with a statement, indicating all the Countries where the rights must be distributed with international registration. The applicable fees should be paid for the procedure. The application, filled in English, in a prescribed form, authenticated by Sakpatenti is sent to the International Bureau. At the same time, applicant is obliged to transfer applicable fees to the account of International Bureau.

Geographical indications and appellations of origin – starting from 1 April of 2012, the Agreement Between Georgia and The European Union on Protection of Geographical Indications of Agriculture Products and Foodstuff” entered into force, based on which the Georgian geographical indications and appellations of origin are protected on the EU territory. The agreement provides for significant administrative mechanisms, which ensures the protection of Georgian geographical indications and appellations of origin on the EU territory from illegal registration and use.

In case of violation of rights on Georgian geographical indications and appellations of origin, interested parties should approach Sakpatenti and submit the evidence of the fact (photo, control purchase document and information about the place of sale). Sakpatenti, based on the above mentioned evidence, addresses the EU to suppress the infringment and implement relevant legal procedures.

Invention, useful model – Exclusive right on invention / useful model is valid only on the territory of a country, where the invention/useful model was registered. There are the several ways of registering the rights on the invention/useful model abroad:

• File the application of invention/useful model registration in the applicable country’s relevant body, but only after the filing of the application to the Sakpatenti and receiving the permit on filing the allocation abroad;
• In case, such country is a party of any Regional Agreement (The European Patent Convention, The Eurasian Patent Convention, etc.) the application may be filed with the regional office;
• Patenting of the invention/useful model in the other, including European countries is possible based on the procedures, according to the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT). This treaty envisages filling of the international application to the receiving body (Sakpatenti in Georgia) and makes possible receiving of patent protection in any PCT Country.

***

The source of the article is dcfta.gov.ge

Copyright on the material is protected. In case of it’s full or partial publication, please indicate at it’s beginning – “Source: business.org.ge”

 

Comments

Comments