Online Seminar on the Hague Design Agreement

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Published: September 21, 2020
Patent attorney, European patent attorney and European trademark and design attorney Manuel Soria Parra during his online lecture on the Hague Design Agreement
Patent attorney, European patent attorney and European trademark and design attorney Manuel Soria Parra during his online lecture on the Hague Design Agreement
Kazakhstan

On 17 September 2020, IRZ, together with the Ministry of Justice for the Republic of Kazakhstan and the World Intellectual Property Organization, organised an online seminar on the Hague agreement for the international registration of industrial designs and models. Around 85 representatives from the following institutions took part in the conference:

  • Ministry of Justice for the Republic of Kazakhstan,
  • Regional Ministries of Justice in the Republic of Kazakhstan,
  • National Institute of Intellectual Property,
  • “Atameken”, the national representation of businesses in Kazakhstan and
  • Patent attorneys in Kazakhstan.

The Hague Design Agreement is a system allowing the international registration of industrial designs and models, which is administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in Geneva. The agreement, which covers the Hague Act of 1960 and the Geneva Act of 1999 with each of their different legal provisions, provides protection for owners of industrial designs or models through international registration with the WIPO.

Representing IRZ as an expert, Manuel Soria Parra gave a lecture on “Protecting Designs in Germany and Europe”. Manuel Soria Parra is a patent attorney, European patent attorney and a European trademark and design attorney at the firm Meissner Bolte Patentanwälte Rechtsanwälte Partnerschaft mbB. His lecture included a comparison between the protection of registered Community designs with those that have not been registered, outlining the main differences between them.

Since Kazakhstan is currently working on draft legislation covering the protection of unregistered designs and models, the participants from the Ministry of Justice for Kazakhstan found the expertise provided by Manuel Soria Parra particularly interesting and useful.

IRZ will be happy to continue supporting discussions between German experts and the Ministry of Justice for Kazakhstan on this and other similar topics in future.

International Online Conference on “The Constitution in the 21st Century - the Rule of Law, the Value of human Beings and the Effectiveness of the State”

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Published: September 7, 2020
IRZ expert Dr. Lars Brocker, President of the Constitutional Court and Higher Administrative Court of Rhineland-Palatinate, during the conference
IRZ expert Dr. Lars Brocker, President of the Constitutional Court and Higher Administrative Court of Rhineland-Palatinate, during the conference
Kazakhstan

This year, the Republic of Kazakhstan (RK) is celebrating the 25th anniversary of its constitution. To mark the occasion, on 27 August 2020 the Constitutional Council of the Republic of Kazakhstan organised an online conference on “The Constitution in the 21st Century - the Rule of Law, the Value of human Beings and the Effectiveness of the State”.

Attending this high-level protocolary event were:

  • top representatives of Kazakhstan’s state authorities,
  • prominent public figures,
  • well-known scientists and academics,
  • representatives of international organisations,
  • presidents and judges from the constitutional courts of more than twenty states.

The IRZ partner states taking part in the online conference included Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, the Russian Federation and Ukraine.

The President of the RK Constitutional Council, Kairat Mami, opened the conference and read out the welcome address of the First President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nasarbajew. The President of Kazakhstan, Kasim-Jomart Tokajev, then gave his welcome speech. He said that history has shown convincingly that the people strive for the establishment of the rule of law and for the guarantee of basic human rights and freedoms. Afterwards, IRZ Managing Director Dr. Frauke Bachler addressed the participants in the conference on behalf of IRZ.

The main focus of the event was on the importance of fundamental values and how these can be protected during the pandemic. IRZ expert Dr. Lars Brocker, President of the Constitutional Court and Higher Administrative Court of Rhineland-Palatinate, took part in the conference, giving a lecture on “Protecting constitutional human rights and democratic values during the Coronavirus era: the responsibilities of the Federal Constitutional Court in Germany.” He spoke about how constitutional and administrative courts in Germany are dealing with the protection of fundamental rights in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The conference, which was broadcast live on YouTube, was divided into three sessions:

  • Constitution and the Rule of Law: Challenges and Ways of Solutions
  • Protection of Constitutional Human Rights and Democratic Values in the Digital Transformation Era
  • Constitutional Principles of Modernization of a Modern and Efficient state

Twenty high-ranking speakers ensured a multidimensional and international exchange of experiences, which also dealt extensively with the constitutional aspects of measures introduced in the context of the Coronavirus pandemic.

Seminar on the division of responsibilities between investigation authorities and public prosecutors

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Published: August 3, 2020
Graphics: IRZ
Graphics: IRZ
Kazakhstan

On 24 July 2020, IRZ and the Law Academy at the Chief Public Prosecutor's Office in the Republic of Kazakhstan organised an online seminar on “Law enforcement: the division of responsibilities between authorities conducting pre-trial investigations and public prosecutors”.

The event was attended by some high-ranking participants. These included Yerlik Kenenbayev, Deputy Prosecutor General of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Prof. Dr. Igor Rogov, Deputy Director of the foundation “Фонд Первого Президента Республики Казахстан“ (Fond Pervogo Prezidenta Respubliki Kazakhstan = Foundation of the First President of the Republic of Kazakhstan), and Jogan Merkel, a member of the Constitutional Council of the Republic of Kazakhstan. All three gave welcome speeches at the start of the seminar.

Andreas Stüve, a Senior Public Prosecutor and Head of the Organised Crime department at the Düsseldorf Public Prosecutor’s Office, was appointed as an IRZ expert. He gave a speech on the position and responsibilities of the public prosecutor’s office in investigation proceedings and on the relations between public prosecutors and the police.

The online seminar led to intense discussions on the subject and provided proof of the Kazakh partners’ need for further training in the field of criminal law and criminal procedure law. IRZ would like to fulfil this requirement by providing the necessary measures in future.