6
FACT SHEET
"SPECIAL 301" ON INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS
ACTIONS TAKEN
Acting United States Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky today announced the Administration's decision with respect to this year's review under the so-called "special 301" provisions of the Trade Act of 1974, as amended (Trade Act).
This decision reflects the Administration's continued commitment to aggressive enforcement of protection for intellectual property. Intellectual property protection has been improving in part as a result of the implementation of the WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (the TRIPS Agreement). The decision also reflects progress made over the course of 1996 in resolving many longstanding problems.
The decision announced by Ambassador Barshefsky includes the following specific actions:
- monitoring China under Section 306 of the Trade Act of 1974, as amended. This means that USTR will be in a position to move directly to trade sanctions if there is slippage in China's enforcement of the bilateral IPR agreements.
- placing 10 trading partners on the "priority watch list" including Argentina, Ecuador, Egypt, the European Union, Greece, India, Indonesia, Paraguay, Russia, and Turkey and conducting "out-of-cycle" reviews of Ecuador, Greece, Paraguay and Turkey;
- placing 36 trading partners on the "watch list" and conducting "out-of-cycle" reviews of Bulgaria, Canada, Hong Kong, Italy, Luxembourg, Panama and Thailand.
- initiating WTO dispute settlement procedures with respect to practices in Denmark, Sweden, Ireland and Ecuador.
- In addition, the Administration noted growing concerns or highlighted developments in and expectations for progress in 11 trading partners.
Other WTO dispute settlement proceedings and other out-of-cycle reviews will be initiated if necessary.
The Administration reiterates its commitment to ensure full and effective implementation of the "special 301" provisions of the Trade Act and rapid implementation of the WTO's TRIPS Agreement. The Administration will continue to encourage other countries to accelerate implementation of the WTO TRIPS Agreement and, at minimum, to take steps now to ensure full implementation of the Agreement by January 2000. To these ends, the Administration will continue to engage countries in dialogues not only aimed at resolving the problems that brought about their inclusion on the "special 301" lists, but also seeking an improvement in the overall level of
