Specific call COSME Improving access to markets, China, Latin America and South East Asia IPR SME Helpdesks

The European Commission has published a specific call under the EU programme for the Competitiveness of Enterprises and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (COSME). The call COS-IPR-2014-2-05 - Improving access to markets, China, Latin America and South East Asia IPR SME Helpdesks closes September 10, 2014. The budget of the call is € 7.2 million. For further information about this call and documents please click here.

The China, Latin America and South-East Asia IPR SME Helpdesks offer first-line advice and support to European SMEs facing intellectual property rights (IPR) difficulties in, or arising from China, and most important Latin America and South-East Asia countries (especially ASEAN and MERCOSUR member states) By offering expert advice through response to individual business queries, e-learning tools, and in-person workshops, it helps SMEs respond practically to such challenges as:

• counterfeit products entering the European market;
• protecting their valuable IPR before entering and while doing business in China, and Latin America and South-East Asia (e.g. developing the market there for their own products or when following a company to which they have traditionally been a supplier when it enters China, Latin American and South-East Asian);
• how to find and constructively work with administrations or service providers to enforce their IPR in such situations.