The U.S.-China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade (JCCT)
Outcomes on U.S. Requests
April 11, 2006
Increasing U.S. Access to the Chinese Market
o
Resumption of Trade in U.S. Beef. The Chinese government
agreed conditionally to reopen the Chinese market to U.S. beef,
subject to the finalization of a protocol by technical experts.
The two sides agreed to quickly conduct such negotiations.
o
Medical Devices. The Chinese government has agreed to take
action to eliminate duplicative testing and certification requirements
applicable to imported medical devices. Completion of this effort
is expected by the end of May.
o
Telecom Market Access. The Chinese government committed
to make appropriate adjustments to its registered capital requirements
for telecommunications service providers. The JCCT Telecommunications
Dialogue will meet to discuss implementation of this commitment.
o
Third Generation Mobile Communications Standards. The Chinese
government restated its 2004 JCCT commitment to technology neutrality
for 3G standards. It agreed to ensure that telecommunications service
providers will be allowed to make their own choices as to which
standard to adopt, and to issue licenses for all 3G standards in
a technologically neutral manner that does not advantage one standard
over others.
o
Express Delivery. China reiterated its commitment that
the regulatory environment for express delivery services by foreign
companies will not be negatively impacted by issuance of new rules,
including the new postal law.
Improving Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights
In support of its commitment to significantly reduce intellectual
property rights (IPR) infringement levels, China agreed to the following
specific actions.
o
Pirated Optical Disks (ODs). The Chinese government has
taken action against 14 factories producing illegal optical disks
and has pledged to step up enforcement in this important area to
combat copyright piracy of films, music, and software. China and
the U.S. will also explore new ways to strengthen cooperation in
this area.
o
Requirements to Install Legitimate Software. The Chinese
government has issued a notice requiring the pre-loading of legal
operating system software on all computers produced or imported
into China , as well as a notice requiring government agencies to
purchase computers with pre-loaded software. In line with these
requirements, several Chinese computer manufacturers have recently
signed agreements to purchase U.S. operating system software.
o
Ensuring Use of Legal Software in Government and Enterprises.
In addition to ongoing efforts to ensure use of legalized software
at all levels of the government, China has launched efforts to ensure
the legalization of software used in Chinese enterprises. In addition,
China has agreed to discuss U.S. proposals regarding government
and enterprise software asset management in the JCCT IPR Working
Group.
o
Rid Consumer Markets of Infringing Goods. The Chinese government
has agreed to intensify its efforts to ensure that public markets
in China are free of infringing products and has announced enforcement
actions in several major cities.
o
Individual Cases. The Chinese government agreed to help
ensure that individual IPR cases raised by the U.S. government with
China will be vigorously pursued.
o
Action Plan: China has announced a broad action plan to
improve enforcement of IP rights, including steps in the areas of
enforcement, legislation and education. Strongly implemented, these
steps could lead to significant improvement in the IP situation
in China .
Ensuring the Rule of Law
o
Transparency. The General Office of the State Council of
the Chinese government has issued a notice requiring that all laws,
regulations and other measures of all government ministries and
agencies at all levels pertaining to or affecting trade in goods,
services, TRIPS or the control of foreign exchange shall be published
in a single official journal, i.e. , the China Foreign Trade and
Economic Cooperation Gazette, issued by the Ministry of Commerce.
Structural and Regulatory Initiatives
o
Government Procurement Agreement (GPA). The Chinese government
committed to commence formal negotiations to join the GPA and submit
its Appendix I GPA offer of coverage by no later than December 2007.
In the interim, China will continue technical consultations with
the U.S. and others.
o Bulk Chemicals. The Chinese government has agreed that
the JCCT Medical Devices and Pharmaceutical Subgroup will discuss
industry concerns regarding the production of active pharmaceutical
ingredients (also known as bulk chemicals) in China.
o Steel Dialogue. The United States and China launched
the JCCT Steel Dialogue on March 24, 2005 , and agreed to hold
a follow-on meeting with industry participants later this year.
Export Controls-
o U.S. and Chinese officials agreed to establish a U.S.-China High
Technology and Strategic Trade Working Group under the JCCT to review
export control cooperation and facilitate high technology trade.
Among the group's first activities will be planning a bilateral
export control seminar in China.
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