Trade and Commercial Law Assessment - Honduras - Economic ...

TRADE AND COMMERCIAL LAW ASSESSMENT DECEMBER 2004
HONDURAS
f.
♦ Although transportation security has improved recently, security issues remain a major
concern and significantly affect trade transaction
costs because many trucks must travel
in convoys, some with armed guards, and limit travel to the hours from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Increased costs related to security are estimated to range from $50 to $70 per container,
including the cost of a guard for each vehicle and monitoring personnel to track the
movement of each dray. Outside of the special unit dedicated to security, the police thus
far have been unsuccessful in addressing this issue.
The Director
General of Intellectual Property within the Ministry of Industry and Commerce
administers and oversees IPR requirements for Honduras. With the passage of the new Property
Law (Ley de Propriedad or LdP), the Registry office will be incorporated into a new Instituto de
Propiedad, an autonomous office independent of any ministry. According to officials involved in
protecting
intellectual property rights (IPR), in 2003 the office’s current staff of 21 employees
process ed 186 patents, 5,638 trademarks, and 230 copyrights. Three alternatives exist for dealing
with infringing
articles—administrative, civil, and criminal.
1) IPR Operations That Support Quality Enforcement
♦ IPR officials report that Honduran law includes protection
for all categories of IPR
merchandise and meets the minimum
standards of the WTO TRIPS agreement.
♦ Communications between the Registry office, judges, police, and prosecutors are
conducted on an as-needed basis, and the sharing of information is without barriers.
♦ Honduras has a unique provision within its copyright laws, whereby administrative
penalties can be assessed. In 2003–2004 nine penalties, totaling $53,000, were imposed
on cable companies for unauthorized broadcasts.
♦ Political influence is minimal within
the Registry office, with only the director, not the
staff, rotated with each new administration. In addition, the current director was well
qualified for the appointment, having an extensive background in IPR issues and law.
♦
Intellectual Property Rights
♦ Steps have been taken to make the IPR regulatory body an autonomous department
outside of any ministry. This should increase the profile and priority of the work
performed, provide an increase in budget to improve technical capacity, and improve the
quality of the review of initial decisions by the office (since the first level of review will
be by qualified staff within the department rather than by Ministry of Trade officials who
have no training in IPR issues).
♦ Honduras has completed its assessment of the changes required to meet its IPR
obligations under CAFTA. This includes 14 modifications to existing IPR laws and
becoming a signatory to five existing IPR international agreements. The government
anticipates being able to complete these actions by the required deadlines.
2) IPR Issues to Address
The IPR Registry staff is inadequate to handle the workload and insufficiently qualified
to handle to complexities involved. Excessive workload
hampers training efforts.
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