ACE: Background, next meeting and key issues to be considered

ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON ENFORCEMENT (ACE)

Background

The Advisory Committee on Enforcement (ACE) was established by the WIPO General Assemblies in 2002 with a mandate focused on technical assistance and coordination in the field of intellectual property enforcement. Its mandate expressly excludes norm-setting activities. The Committee’s work centers on cooperation with public and private actors, the exchange of information, the promotion of awareness, and the organization of training activities at national and regional levels.

“Within the framework of recommendation 45 of the WIPO Development Agenda, the ACE focuses on: coordinating with public and private organizations to combat counterfeiting and piracy; public education; assistance; coordination to undertake national and regional training programs for all relevant stakeholders and; exchange of information on enforcement issues.”¹

Next meeting (Eighteenth session)

Date: June 2 to June 4, 2026

Website: https://www.wipo.int/meetings/en/details.jsp?meeting_id=90608

Draft Agenda (WIPO/ACE/18/1 PROV.)

1. Opening of the session
2. Adoption of the agenda
3. Election of a Chair and two Vice-Chairs for the nineteenth session
4. Admission of ad-hoc observers
5. Discussion of the work program agreed at the seventeenth session of the ACE (paragraph 43 of document WIPO/ACE/17/20 Rev.)
6. Recent activities of WIPO in the field of building respect for IP
7. Work of the ACE
8. Adoption of the Summary by the Chair
9. Closing of the session

Key Issues

The ACE agenda includes issues such as the following:

Exchange of national experiences on public campaigns aimed at fostering respect for IP;
Consideration of national policies and enforcement mechanisms, including dispute resolution systems;
Presentation of training programs supported by WIPO and sharing of experiences related to strengthening institutional capacities and skills for enforcement;
Review of experiences with legislative assistance in the development of enforcement frameworks, taking into account national legal systems, development levels, and broader societal considerations, including the avoidance of misuse of enforcement procedures;
Exchange of experiences related to addressing both physical and digital forms of infringement;
Identification of challenges faced by SMEs in enforcing IP rights and discussion of measures aimed at supporting their participation in enforcement systems;
Consideration of the application of AI tools in identifying and addressing infringements;
Discussion of collaborative approaches and information-sharing practices to strengthen enforcement efforts across jurisdictions;
Recent discussions have included proposals to address issues related to biopiracy and the protection of genetic resources and traditional knowledge. A compromise resulted in the inclusion of a more narrowly defined topic focusing on the impact of intellectual property infringement in the biotechnology sector in the Committee’s upcoming work.

References:

Mandate of the ACE, paragraphs 114 (ii) and 120 of document WO/GA/28/7 Corr.,https://www.wipo.int/edocs/mdocs/govbody/en/wo_ga_28/wo_ga_28_7.pdf
ACE documents, https://www.wipo.int/en/web/ace/documents-search