United
States Trade Representative
Charlene Barshefsky today announced the
outcome of Special 301 out-of-cycle
reviews of Ukraine, Macau, Korea,
United Arab Emirates, Hungary, Slovenia and
the West Bank/Gaza Strip.
"Special 301" reviews examine the adequacy and
effectiveness of
intellectual property protection in certain
countries.
Ukraine:
A decision on whether to identify
Ukraine as a Priority Foreign Country
was deferred until March 1,
2001.
The
U.S. has expressed concern for
some time about Ukraine's production and
export of pirate optical media
products. Ukraine avoided a Priority
Foreign Country identification last year
after Presidents Clinton and
Kuchma endorsed a Joint Action Plan to address the
piracy problem.
Unfortunately, Ukraine did not meet its obligations under the
plan by
last year's deadline. The U.S. has been in intensive discussions with
the Ukrainian Government since late last year and recently some
progress has
been made. The Ukrainian Government has started to address
the legislative
deficiencies that make piracy difficult to combat. To
fulfill the terms of the
action plan, Ukraine must bring into force
effective new copyright and optical
media licensing legislation, as
well as complete an effective plan to prevent
the restart of pirate
production. "Because of recent progress," Ambassador
Barshefsky said,
"we are deferring our decision on Priority Foreign Country
identification of Ukraine. However, we are prepared to make such an
identification - which would result in significant trade penalties for
Ukraine -
absent satisfactory implementation of the action plan by
March 1."
Macau
remains on the Watch
List.
The
U.S. is encouraged by the
steps Macau has taken over the past year to
strengthen its intellectual property
legislation. Arrests and seizures
for IPR violations have increased as well.
Despite these positive
steps, however, enforcement of the strong new
intellectual property
laws is not as vigorous as it needs to be. Prosecutions
must increase
and penalties against IPR violators must be stiffened if they are
to be
a genuine deterrent.
Korea
remains on the Priority Watch
List.
The
U.S. is encouraged by our
increased dialogue with the Korean Government
regarding a number of weaknesses
in its IPR regime, both in enforcement
and in legislation. This dialogue did
result in stronger legislation.
"Prior to the end of the upcoming annual Special
301 review, we look to
Korea to significantly expand its enforcement of
intellectual property
rights, particularly against software piracy," Ambassador
Barshefsky
said. "Also, we hope to see further improvements in Korea's Computer
Programs Protection Act, stronger protection of confidential test data,
and
better coordination between Korean health safety officials and
intellectual
property officials."
United
Arab
Emirates
received no listing.
The
U.S. has been discussing with
the U.A.E. for some time the problem of
unauthorized copies of patented
pharmaceuticals. Last April, the U.A.E.
agreed to prevent the marketing of
unauthorized copycat drugs.
Unfortunately, marketing approval for some copycat
drugs was granted
nevertheless. However, recent consultations between our two
governments
resulted in assurances from the Government of the U.A.E. that it
will
reverse any marketing approvals granted in violation of last year's
agreement. "We appreciate the renewed promise by the U.A.E. to respect
patent
rights in a manner consistent with the WTO TRIPS Agreement,"
Ambassador
Barshefsky said. "We plan to continuously monitor over the
coming weeks the
U.A.E.'s fulfillment of its recent commitments in this
regard and will take any
further steps that may be
warranted."
Hungary
will remain on the Watch List.
The
review of Hungary was prompted
by concerns regarding that country's
failure to provide protection of
confidential test data submitted by
U.S. companies to receive marketing approval
for their products. "We
are encouraged by the positive direction of recent
discussions with the
Hungarian Government and so have decided to allow a brief
additional
period of time to reach a solution that provides adequate and
effective
data protection," Ambassador Barshefsky said.
Slovenia
received no listing.
As
in Hungary, the U.S. Government
is concerned about Slovenia's failure
to protect adequately confidential test
data. Last year the Slovenian
Parliament suspended implementation of legislation
that would have
provided such protection. However, in recent discussions with
U.S.
officials the Slovenian Government pledged concrete steps to ensure such
protection is provided. As a result, it is not necessary to change
Slovenia's
Special 301 status at this time. "We are pleased that the
new Slovenian
Government has committed itself, consistent with its WTO
obligations, to protect
the data U.S. firms submit to gain approval for
their products," said Ambassador
Barshefsky. "We will continue to
monitor the situation closely in the weeks
ahead and expect this
commitment to be met no later than the conclusion of the
upcoming
Special 301 annual review."
West
Bank/Gaza
Strip
A scheduled review of the West Bank
and Gaza Strip could not be
conducted because of continuing violent unrest in
the area. The review
will be carried out when conditions permit.