Egypt and Tunisia underscore the importance of IP

• Author: Ahmed Abdel-Latif
• Position: Senior Programme Manager for Innovation, Technology and Intellectual Property, International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD), Geneva, Switzerland
• Pages: 38-40

p. 38 2014 | 4

Egypt and Tunisia underscore

THE IMPORTANCE

OF IP By Ahmed Abdel-Latif, S enior Programme

Manager for Innovat ion, Technology an d

Intellectual Property, International Centre

for Trade and Sustain able Development

(ICTSD), Geneva, Switzer land

Last January, Egypt and Tunisia enacted new constitu tions in the context of the political

changes they have been witne ssing since the 2011 revolutions that they experienced.

While most public attentio n has focused on how these constitutions have addresse d

hotly debated issues such as th e structure of government, the role of religion a nd

fundamental freed oms, less attention has bee n given to how they have dealt with

economic and social i ssues. However, for the rst time in the history of these two

countries, their new constitutions give high priority to building a knowledge economy

and provide for the protection of intellectua l property rights (IPRs).

The new Egyptian Constitution wa s put to a referendum on 14 and 15 January 2014

and approved by a large majorit y of Egyptians who took part in th e vote. It replaces

the 2012 Constitution enacted under former President M orsi as well as the 1971

Constitution. The new Tunisian Constitution was adopted by an overwhelming ma-

jority of the country’s Constituent Assembly on 26 January 2014 and replaces the

1959 Constitution.

RECOGNIZING THE IMPORTANCE OF THE KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY

The constitutions of each country include clauses which recognize the importance

of building a knowledge ec onomy and emphasize the need to sup port scientic

research, innovation and creativ ity.

The Egyptian Constitution stip ulates that the “State guarantees the freedom of scien-

tic research and encou rages its institutions as a mean s towards achieving national

sovereignty, and building a knowledge e conomy” (Article 23). The State also “supports

researchers and inventors” and c ommits to “allocate a percentage of governme nt

expenditures that is no les s than 1 percent of Gross National Prod uct to scientic

research which will grad ually increase until it reac hes global levels.”

The commitment to allocate a spe cic percentage of governme nt expenditure to

scientic research is remarkable and unusual in constitutional texts. Interestingly, the

same provision declare s that the “State shall ensure effective means of contributio n

by private and non-governmental se ctors and the participation of Egyptian expatriates

in the progress of scientic rese arch.” Adopting a more conventional approach, the

Tunisian Constitution envisages that “ the State provides the means necessary to the

development of technological and scientic research” (Article 33).

Between 2004 and 2010, governmental R&D expenditu re in Egypt averaged around

0.25 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), below the avera ge for sub-Saharan

African countries (excluding S outh Africa) and barely one -tenth the average for the

countries of the Organisati on for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

Tunisia’s expenditure on R&D was higher at around 1.1 percent of GDP in 2009.

Adaptation of Egypt and Tunisia’s New

Constitutions Recognize Importance

of the Knowledge Economy and

Intellectual Pr operty R ights by Ahmed

Abdel-Latif, rst publish ed by the

Centre for Mediterranea n Integration,

The World Bank, in March 2014