Center

Exhibition sector continues expansion

(China Daily)
Updated: 2007-01-16 10:15

And stronger commitment from the Chinese government on IPR protection is assisting the healthy development of the sector.

According to a statute enacted last March, an office must be set up by exhibition organizers to handle complaints about IPR infringements if an exhibition lasts more than three days.

Venues must prevent exhibitors from using the shows to sell or organize the processing of illegal products, and organizers and participants engaging in IPR violations will be barred from holding or attending exhibitions again.

Local governments are also taking steps to fight IPR violations in the exhibition industry. InBeijing, for instance, representatives from around 200 exhibition institutions made a joint pledge in May to respect IPR and stamp out infringement at their trade fairs.

"IPR protection was a hot issue for the industry in 2006," the report said.

And domestic exhibitions saw a further influx of multinational players last year.

"Exhibition giants from the US, Germany and Italy continued the trend by setting up subsidiaries, joint ventures and representative offices in China," the report said.

"Yet more multinationals are switching their focus to advancing in the Chinese market by teaming up with domestic enterprises," it said.

(China Daily 01/16/2007 page14)