USG Engagement:
The U.S Government has a program of active engagement with Tajikistan on Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) issues, guided by the U.S.-Central Asia Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA). The United States and Tajikistan work together to develop Tajikistan’s IP ecosystem. Tajikistan does not currently feature in the 2023 U.S. Trade Representative’s (USTR’s) Special 301 report on countries of concern in regard to Intellectual Property rights (IPR), having been removed from the report in 2019.
International Conventions on IPR:
Tajikistan is a signatory to several international conventions that protect IPR, including the World International Property Organization (WIPO) Convention. The country has signed 18 of the 26 WIPO treaties, including the Patent Law treaty and the Trademark Law Treaty. IP regulatory authority is divided between the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Culture, and the Ministry of Agriculture.
Tajikistan adopted the Protocol on the Protection of Industrial Designs to the Eurasian Patent Convention in 2021. The government continues to take steps to join international IPR conventions that complement existing IPR protections enshrined in the Constitution, as well as the country’s criminal and civil codes.
Tajikistan acceded to the WTO in May 2013, and as such is bound by the provisions of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). Tajikistan has adopted legislation to align its laws to the requirements of the TRIPS agreement – a process which is ongoing.
All other IPR related laws, regulations, and treaties in Tajikistan are accessible here:
Enforcement:
Despite the protective legislative framework, IPR infringement is widespread, and counterfeit clothing and DVDs are readily available and enforcement remains weak. The government requires technical assistance from the international community to develop and strengthen enforcement and monitoring mechanisms. The Unit to Combat IP Crimes is housed within the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA). Following a hiatus between 2012-2018 in which the government declined to share enforcement data, the MIA for the third consecutive year provided the Embassy with data on the limited number of IPR violations detected. According to official data, the government identified 35 IP violations in 2021 (down from 223 in 2019), even though counterfeit items are on offer in markets across the country.
At the end of 2019, the government established an IPR Working Group under the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade. This has been a positive development that led to interagency cooperation and produced a whole-of-government IPR strategy. As a result, the Tajik government produced a new National IP Strategy for 2020-2030, aiming to increase the importance of IPR in an innovation-driven economic model that will enhance Tajikistan’s economic competitiveness. The strategy offers few specifics or benchmarks to guide officials in its implementation and comes with no additional resources or funding.
President Rahmon’s 2018 decree mandating that the government use licensed software similarly allocated no resources for the government to purchase the licenses. The government pledged to draft legal regulations that would ban the use of unlicensed software by state entities, but it has yet to deliver. To comply with the Presidential mandate, the Tajik government is currently developing an implementation work plan and attempting to attract technical assistance from the donor community.
As part of its WTO accession process, Tajikistan amended Article 441 of its Customs Code to provide ex officio authority to its customs officers to seize and destroy counterfeit goods. The Department on Disclosing and Seizing of Counterfeit Products within the Customs Service of Tajikistan has the responsibility to detect IPR-related violations. According to the department’s own data, there were no seizures of counterfeit products by the Customs Service in 2015. Currently, the Customs Service has 26 IPR products registered in its customs registry. View full list of registered IPR products .
Tajikistan’s Law on Quality and Safety of Products requires IPR violators to pay all expenses for storage, transportation, and destruction of counterfeit goods.
To register a patent or trademark with the National Center for Patents and Information (NCPI), applicants must submit an application with all relevant information on the IP and pay a fee. The NCPI (www.ncpi.tj) will search its records for conflicts and, if none are found, register the IP within 30 days from the time the application is received. In general, the registration of a trademark might take four to seven months, while obtaining a patent for an invention could take up to two years.
Further Research
In any foreign market, companies should consider several general principles for effective protection of their intellectual property. For background, link to our article on Protecting Intellectual Property and Stopfakes.gov for more resources.
The Intellectual Property (IP) Attaché Program works to improve IP systems internationally by directly assisting U.S. stakeholders (such as businesses, legal representatives, and rights holders) and by advocating to improve IP policies, laws, and regulations abroad. The Intellectual Property Attaché for Tajikistan is based out of Kyiv, Ukraine. Please contact Dorian Mazurkevich (dorian.mazurkevich@trade.gov).
For additional information about treaty obligations and points of contact at local IP offices, please see WIPO’s country profiles at https://www.wipo.int/directory/en/.
To access Tajikistan’s Investment Climate Statement, which includes information on the protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights, visit the U.S. Department of State Investment Climate Statement website.