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deficiencies making it incompatible with international standards, including an inadequate term of protection.
Turkey has been kept on the "priority watch list" because it continues to lack modern patent or copyright legislation. Enforcement of existing copyright law is ineffective and copyright piracy is widespread. Turkey is a significant producer of pirated pharmaceutical products because such products are not patentable there. In March 1995, in the course of customs union negotiations with the European Union, Turkey committed itself to bring its intellectual property laws into line with international norms over the next four years. In April 1995, Turkey's Parliament began debate on amendments to the copyright law that would address many, although not all, of the shortcomings in the current law. A draft patent law has also been prepared; the question of when Turkey will begin to protect pharmaceutical products is not yet resolved, however. The draft does not contain "pipeline" protection for pharmaceutical products. An out-of-cycle review will be held no later than December 15, 1995 to assess the extent to which Turkey, in the interim, has extended effective protection to the holders of U.S. intellectual property.
Watch List
In reviewing the practices of all of our trading partners, the USTR has decided that 24 countries should be placed on the "watch list". The Administration uses the "watch list" as a means of monitoring progress in implementing commitments with regard to the protection of intellectual property rights and for providing comparable market access for U.S. intellectual property products.
Countries placed on the watch list are:
Argentina recently addressed a major U.S. concern by issuing regulations to implement a modern patent system. The U.S. was pleased with this development, resolving a longstanding problem. However, certain problems remain, including concerns about the protection of data submitted for marketing approval. The U.S. will monitor this situation carefully to ensure that this progress is maintained and that U.S. patent applicants can benefit fully in a manner consistent with modern international patent practice. An out-of-cycle review will be conducted by the end of July.
Bahrain: Bahrain extended protection to foreign works when it joined the Berne Convention in February 1995. The U.S. urges Bahrain to bring its copyright regime into line with its obligations under the Berne Convention and the WTO, and to begin to take effective enforcement action against widespread piracy of copyrighted works of all types.
