disc pirate production and improved IPR enforcement efforts. As agreed in the Out-of-Cycle Review, the Government of Ukraine has participated regularly in an Enforcement Cooperation Group with the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine and U.S. industry representatives throughout 2006. Although Ukraine now has a comprehensive optical disc regime and is no longer a major producer of pirated optical discs, it remains a transshipment point and storage location for illegal optical media produced in Russia and elsewhere, and retail piracy remains rampant. The United States encourages Ukraine to continue to improve border enforcement efforts, impose deterrent criminal penalties for unauthorized production and export of pirated and counterfeit products, and work to stem the growth of Internet piracy and the use of pirated business software. The United States also encourages Ukraine to take action against continuing counterfeit production. In 2006, Ukraine amended its Law on Medicines to provide protection against unfair commercial use for pharmaceutical data generated to obtain marketing approval. The United States recognizes Ukraine's improvements in 2006 in IPR protection, and will continue to monitor closely Ukraine's further progress on IPR protection and enforcement in a number of fora, including bilateral engagement, the Enforcement Cooperation Group, and WTO accession negotiations.
VENEZUELA
Venezuela will remain on the Priority Watch List in 2007. Venezuela made minimal progress in strengthening its weak IPR regime in 2006. Already high levels of copyright piracy continue to climb, while proposed copyright legislation, if re-introduced, would severely undercut the existing Venezuelan copyright law, as well as bilateral and international standards of IP protection. The U.S. copyright industries report good cooperation with SENIAT, Venezuela's customs and tax authorities, but note continuing problems with a lack of overall IPR enforcement. The U.S. pharmaceutical industry reports that Venezuela has not issued a patent to a foreign pharmaceutical product since 2003. Venezuela also does not provide protection against unfair commercial use for data generated to obtain marketing approval. In April 2006, Venezuela withdrew from the Andean Community, raising questions about Venezuela's ability to fulfill its international IPR obligations and whether it will provide for the effective administration of its IPR system. The United States urges the Venezuelan government to take immediate action to improve IPR protection, particularly by addressing piracy and counterfeiting, amending inadequate legislative proposals, protecting against unfair commercial use for data generated to obtain marketing approval, and improving IPR enforcement.
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