USTR Issues 2009 "Special 301" Annual Report, Canada Elevated to Priority Watch List

USTR reviewed 77 trading partners for this year's Special 301 Report and placed 46 of them on either the Priority Watch List, Watch List, or the Section 306 monitoring list.

Highlights of the 2009 Special 301 Annual Report

The following are highlights of this year's Special 301 Report:

Canada. Canada is being elevated to the Priority Watch List for the first time, reflecting increasing concern about the continuing need for copyright reform, as well as continuing concern about weak border enforcement. Among other things, the Government of Canada has not delivered on its commitments by promptly and effectively implementing key copyright reforms. The U.S. has serious concerns with Canada's failure to accede to and implement the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Internet Treaties, which Canada signed in 1997. The U.S. also continues to urge Canada to improve its IPR enforcement system to enable authorities to take effective action against the trade in counterfeit and pirated products within Canada, as well as curb the volume of infringing products transshipped and transiting through Canada.

China. Again this year, USTR's Special 301 Report highlights the prominence of IPR concerns with respect to China, and the country will remain on the Priority Watch List in 2009. According to the report, while the Chinese Government continues to provide increased attention to the IPR environment, the shared goal of significantly reducing IPR infringement throughout China has not yet been achieved. The report adds that China's IPR enforcement regime remains largely ineffective and non-deterrent.

Russia. USTR's report again highlights IPR concerns with Russia, despite some evidence of improvement. USTR states that the U.S. is committed to ensuring that Russia fulfills the promises it made to improve its IPR protection and enforcement regimes as part of a bilateral agreement with the U.S.

Algeria, Indonesia. Algeria and Indonesia are being elevated to the Priority Watch List, reflecting growing concern about the IPR situation in those countries.

Korea. Korea is being removed from the Watch List in recognition of the significant improvements it has made during the past year, and the Korean Government's policy direction of continuing to place a priority on improving its IPR regime. This marks the first time in the history of the report that Korea has not appeared on either the Watch List or the Priority Watch List. USTR will, however, continue to closely monitor the ongoing problem of Internet piracy in Korea, etc.

12 countries on Priority Watch List. There are 12 countries on this year's Priority Watch List: China, Russia, Algeria, Argentina, Canada, Chile, India, Indonesia, Israel, Pakistan, Thailand, and Venezuela.

(Trading partners on the Priority Watch List do not provide an adequate level of IPR protection or enforcement, or market access for persons relying on intellectual property protection. Priority Watch List countries will be the subject of particularly intense engagement through bilateral discussion during the coming year.)

33 countries on Watch List. There are 33 trading partners are on the lower level Watch List: Belarus, Bolivia, Brazil, Brunei, Colombia, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, Finland, Greece, Guatemala, Hungary, Italy, Jamaica, Kuwait, Lebanon, Malaysia, Mexico, Norway, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam. (Trading partners on the Watch List merit bilateral attention to address the underlying IPR problems.)

Paraguay will remain subject to Section 306 monitoring. Paraguay will continue to be monitored under Section 306 of the Trade Act of 1974 under a bilateral Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that establishes objectives and actions for addressing IPR concerns in Paraguay. (In 2008, the U.S. and Paraguay signed an extension and revision of a previous MOU, which will remain in effect through 2009. While there have been continued strong efforts by Paraguay to improve IPR enforcement, Paraguay continues to have problems providing effective IPR protection due to porous borders, ineffective prosecutions of IPR infringers, and the lack of deterrent-level sentences in court cases being issued.)

Out of cycle reviews. USTR will conduct Out-of-Cycle Reviews for Fiji, Israel, the Philippines, Poland, and Saudi Arabia to monitor progress on specific IPR issues.

(See ITT's Online Archives or 01/29/09 news, 09012925, for BP summary of USTR seeking comments to help identify countries for this Special 301 Report.

See ITT's Online Archives or 04/29/08 news, 08042910, for BP summary of USTR's 2008 "Special 301" Annual Report.)

USTR press release (dated 04/30/09) available at http://www.ustr.gov/Document_Library/Press_Releases/2009/April/USTR_Releases_2009_Special_301_Report.html

USTR 2009 Special 301 Report (dated 04/30/09) available at http://www.ustr.gov/assets/Document_Library/Reports_Publications/2009/2009_Special_301_Report/asset_upload_file500_15612.pdf