Intellectual Property Rights as an EU Tool of Trade Liberalization and Export Promotion[Práva k duševnímu vlastnictví jako nástroj EU pro obchodní liberalizaci a podporu exportu]

The multilateral and plurilateral agreements on protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights that are a phenomenon of the end of the 20th and in the beginning of the 21st centuries and that complemented the system of agreements on IPRs protection that have existed in international relations since the end of 19th century, have impact on the trade policies of individual states, influence business environment and consequently the trade flows between countries. EU belongs to the most important initiators of the mentioned agreements. Effectiveness and level of IPRs protection and enforcement constitute incentive or barrier to the market entry and therefore is becoming more and more important part of the EU Common Commercial Policy and as such, it becomes also an important tool of the trade liberalization and export promotion. The Lisbon Treaty included commercial aspects of intellectual property rights into exclusive competences and established respective procedures for their implementation into national legislations of EU Member States. Intellectual property rights are also part of the newly negotiated or already signed trade preferential agreements between EU and South Korea, India, Mercosur and other countries of Latin America. Moreover, the EU initiated actively further trade agreement negotiated at plurilateral basis, i.e. Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), which importance consists in the establishment of manners and effectiveness of copyright and industrial rights. The article analyses current EU activities in the area of commercial aspects of IPRs protection and enforcement, in multilateral as well as bilateral trade agreements and possible impacts on the third market access and export promotion of European subjects.