Legal and Regulatory Framework - Japan

The Government of Japan established a trust fund, FIT/JP (IP), administered by WIPO. The Government of Japan, through METI, has been providing IP-related technical assistance in partnership with WIPO since 1987. IP projects initially focused on Asia and have been extended to Africa. In 2008, the Government of Japan created the Japan Funds in Trust for African This trust fund provides support to the Member States of the African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO) and the African Intellectual Property Organization (OAPI) and Africa at large in the area of intellectual property capacity building activities. To this end, ARIPO, OAPI, and JPO signed a cooperation agreement in May 2008, confirming to carry out reinforced activities under this new Funds-in-Trust arrangement for capacity building for all the countries in Africa.

This is a JICA project that aims to assist the Cambodia Development Council (CDC) to enhance CDC’s capacities to improve investment promotion services. The overall objective of the project is to strengthen the Agency’s capacity in promoting and increasing FDI inflows to Cambodia. The project aims to: (i) upgrade CDC’s services to provide necessary information/data to investors, and (ii) upgrade CDC’s PR activities and consultation service. The project was launched in 2011 and was completed in 2013.

The Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC), in cooperation with JICA, carries out a number of training courses for developing countries in the area of competition law and policy. These courses provide officials from competition authorities in developing countries with information on Japan’s Antimonopoly Act and its implementation, with the purpose of contributing to the introduction or enhancement of competition law in developing countries. The JFTC has been providing two types of training courses using the JICA’s scheme for technical cooperation: group training courses and the country-focused technical cooperation. Group training sessions have been provided almost once a year since 1994. Around 15 officials from younger agencies and other related authorities are invited to Japan and participate in a 2-3 week training course every year. Regarding country-focused technical cooperation, the JFTC has implemented technical assistance for Indonesia, Mongolia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, and China. The contents of country-focused technical cooperation include sending long-term experts, organizing training courses in Japan and on-site seminars.