The Decision of the State Council on Amending the Regulations of the People's Republic of China on Customs Protection of Intellectual Property Rights has been adopted at the 103rd executive meeting of the State Council on March 17, 2010, and is hereby promulgated. It shall come into effect on April 1, 2010.

Premier Wen Jiabao

March 24th, 2010

The State Council has decided to make the following amendments to the "Regulations of the People's Republic of China on Customs Protection of Intellectual Property Rights":

1、 Article 11 shall be amended as follows: "If there is a change in the registration of intellectual property rights, the intellectual property rights holder shall, within 30 working days from the date of the change, handle the registration change or cancellation procedures with the General Administration of Customs.

If the intellectual property rights holder fails to handle the procedures for change or cancellation in accordance with the provisions of the preceding paragraph, causing serious impact on the legitimate import and export of others or the lawful performance of regulatory duties by the customs, the General Administration of Customs may revoke the relevant filing upon the application of relevant stakeholders, or may voluntarily revoke the relevant filing

2、 The first paragraph of Article 23 shall be amended as follows: "After submitting an application to the customs for taking protective measures, the intellectual property rights holder may, in accordance with the provisions of the Trademark Law of the People's Republic of China, the Copyright Law of the People's Republic of China, the Patent Law of the People's Republic of China, or other relevant laws, apply to the people's court for measures to order the cessation of infringing acts or property preservation for the detained suspected infringing goods

3、 An additional item is added to Article 24 as the fifth item: "If the intellectual property rights holder withdraws the application to detain the suspected infringing goods before the customs determines that the detained goods are infringing goods

4、 The third paragraph of Article 27 shall be amended as follows: "If the confiscated infringing intellectual property goods can be used for social public welfare undertakings, the customs shall transfer them to relevant public welfare institutions for use in social public welfare undertakings; if the intellectual property rights holder has the intention to purchase them, the customs may transfer them to the intellectual property rights holder for a fee. If the confiscated infringing intellectual property goods cannot be used for social public welfare undertakings and the intellectual property rights holder has no intention to purchase them, the customs may auction them according to law after eliminating the infringing features. However, for imported counterfeit trademark goods, except for special circumstances, the customs cannot allow them to enter commercial channels by simply removing the trademark markings on the goods; if the infringing features cannot be eliminated, the customs shall destroy them

5、 Article 28 shall be changed to Article 31 and revised as follows: "If an individual carries or mails items into or out of the country that exceed the reasonable quantity for personal use and infringe upon the intellectual property rights stipulated in Article 2 of these Regulations, they shall be treated as infringing goods

In addition, make corresponding adjustments to the order of the articles.

This decision shall come into effect on April 1, 2010.

The "Regulations of the People's Republic of China on Customs Protection of Intellectual Property Rights" shall be revised and reissued in accordance with this decision.