USTR Announces Results of its 2005 "Special 301" Annual Report

The USTR states that this report focuses on the adequacy and effectiveness of IPR protection in 90 countries, and identifies 52 countries that are designated in the categories of Priority Foreign Country, Section 306 Monitoring, Priority Watch List, or Watch List. The USTR notes that this report also presents the results of out-of-cycle review of China.

Need for Improved Enforcement Against Counterfeiting, Piracy, Etc.

In this year's review, the USTR states that it devotes special attention to the need for significantly improved enforcement against counterfeiting and piracy, with particular emphasis on the ongoing campaign to reduce production of unauthorized copies of "optical media" products such as CDs, VCDs, DVDs, and CD-ROMs, as well as on the counterfeiting of trademarked goods.

In addition, the USTR continues to focus on other issues it deems critically important, including internet piracy, proper implementation of the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement by developed and developing country World Trade Organization (WTO) members, and full implementation of TRIPS standards by new WTO members at the time of their accession. USTR also continues to insist other countries' government ministries use only authorized software.

Highlights of the 2005 Special 301 Annual Report

In its report, the USTR identified several trading partners that deny adequate and effective protection of intellectual property or deny fair and equitable market access to U.S. artists and industries that rely upon such protection, these designations include:

Ukraine remains the only priority foreign country, will remain subject to sanctions. The USTR notes the continued need for Ukraine to take effective action against significant levels of optical media piracy and to implement intellectual property laws that provide adequate and effective protection. As a result, Ukraine will continue to be designated as the only Priority Foreign Country and the $75 million in sanctions imposed on Ukrainian products on January 23, 2002 will remain in place. (See ITT's Online Archives or 12/26/01 and 08/10/01 news, 01122615 and 01081015, for previous summaries covering Ukraine.)

China and Paraguay remain "Section 306" Monitoring Countries. The USTR states that it will continue to designate China and Paraguay for "Section 306" monitoring to ensure that both countries comply with the commitments made to the U.S. under bilateral intellectual property agreements.

14 countries, including China, on Priority Watch List. The USTR has placed the following 13 trading partners on its "Priority Watch List": Argentina, Brazil, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Israel, Kuwait, Lebanon, Pakistan, Philippines, Russia, Turkey, and Venezuela.

(When it announced the results of its 2004 Special 301 review, the USTR stated that it would be conducting an out-of-cycle review for China in early 2005. As a result of the out-of-cycle review of China, the USTR has now decided to elevate China to the Priority Watch List because of serious concerns about its compliance with its obligations under TRIPS and its Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade (JCCT) commitments. (See ITT's Online Archives or 02/03/05 news, 05020320, for most recent BP summary on the USTR's out-of-cycle review of China.)

USTR states that it will work with U.S. industry and other stakeholders with an eye toward utilizing WTO procedures to bring China into compliance with its TRIPS obligations, invoke TRIPS transparency provisions to obtain detailed documentation on certain aspects of China's IPR enforcement regime, and seek additional aggressive actions by China at the 2005 JCCT aimed at significantly reducing IPR infringement levels.

35 countries and one economy on Watch List. The USTR states that the following countries and economy are on its "Watch List": Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Belarus, Belize, Bolivia, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, European Union, Guatemala, Hungary, Italy, Jamaica, Kazakhstan, Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, Poland, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Slovakia, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Thailand, Turkmenistan, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam.

Out-of-cycle reviews for 6 countries and one economy. With respect to individual trade partners, the USTR notes that it will conduct out-of-cycle reviews for Ukraine, Russia, Philippines, Indonesia, Canada, the European Union, and Saudi Arabia.

USTR press release (Dated 04/29/05) available at http://www.ustr.gov/Document_Library/Press_Releases/2005/April/Special_301_Report_Finds_Progress_Need_for_Significant_Improvements.html.

USTR 2004 "Special 301" Report available athttp://www.ustr.gov/assets/Document_Library/Reports_Publications/2005/2005_Special_301/asset_upload_file195_7636.pdf.