Suriname’s Ministry of Economic Affairs, Entrepreneurship and Technological Innovation (EZOTI) has officially launched a fully digital end-to-end system for intellectual property processing, marking a major modernization of the country’s IP services that aims to cut processing delays and bring local regulations in line with global standards.
The new digital platform was formally brought into operation on August 19, with Minister Andrew Baasaron and trademark attorney Elleson Fraenk leading the launch ceremony. Fraenk submitted the very first trademark application through the updated system during the event, which was also attended by Steven Reyme, chair of the ministry’s standing committee.
Prior to this launch, the National Assembly of Suriname passed a unanimous amendment to the century-old Suriname Industrial Property Regulation of 1912 just days before. The legislative update brings long-overdue changes to the country’s IP framework, most notably adding legal provisions for the registration of service marks – extending existing brand protection that previously only covered physical products to now include marks used to distinguish professional services. The amendment was also crafted specifically to support the digital transition of the Bureau of Intellectual Property (BIE), enabling official IP publications to be processed digitally rather than through outdated paper-based workflows.
Under the new system, entrepreneurs, IP rights holders and other stakeholders can now submit all types of applications to the BIE entirely online, eliminating the need for in-person or paper submissions. The country’s public IP register has also been fully digitized and optimized for more targeted, efficient searching, allowing interested parties to access registered intellectual property data far faster than before. Internally, the BIE has restructured its back-office operations to process both newly submitted applications and pre-existing pending requests digitally, a change that ministry officials expect will drastically reduce overall processing turnaround times.
EZOTI officials note that the combination of updated legislation and full digital transformation is designed to address long-standing backlogs in IP application processing and publication, while also building a more accessible and transparent system for intellectual property registration and protection. Moving forward, the ministry plans to implement additional reforms to align the BIE’s full range of services with international intellectual property standards, supporting local business growth and attracting greater cross-border investment by strengthening IP protections in the country.