Report

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5.22 Instead, the regulatory regime has to be established in stages
upon the commencement of the OGP system, with interim or short-term
measures in place to facilitate transition to the new full-fledged regulatory
regime.
5.23 One factor to bear in mind is that the re-registration system
will still be maintained in the foreseeable future, which requires
attendance mainly to formalities. There is no immediate need for
introducing drastic changes to the current re-registration practice.
5.24 Another important factor is the promotion of the
transparency of the profession and qualifications of the practitioners prior
to the introduction of regulation, as this may help educate the users to
find the right service they need and encourage service providers to
enhance professional practices meeting market demands. Interim
measures in this direction may take, for example, the form of Option B
with full statutory controls over titles, or the form of provision of
essential information about the practitioners through a list centrally
administered and made publicly available.
Recommendations
5.25 Having considered the factors as set out above, the Advisory
Committee recommends that –
(a)
(b)
A full-fledged regulatory regime on patent agency
services (i.e. by combining Options A and B
altogether) should be set as the ultimate goal in the
long run, which has to be achieved in stages, with
possible interim measures.
Option A(ii) is preferred to Option A(i) in