positive side, top level support within the Ministry of Economic Affairs has finally resulted in the establishment of an effective Intellectual Property Office. This office has been well staffed with energetic people. With their leadership, and the active cooperation of the Investigative Bureau of the Ministry of Justice, a number of illegal CD production facilities have been closed during the last year, and a number of retail raids have been conducted. On the negative side, responsibility for intellectual property matters is still badly fragmented among different agencies. Repeated U.S. Government requests for action to improve access to the judicial system in infringements case, to enforce existing source identification code regulations, and to adopt an effective chip marking system have been rebuffed. Taiwan is now among the world's largest producers of optical media. Toleration of extremely lax procedures in enforcing intellectual property rights in this area is out of step with Taiwan's increasing role as an originator of intellectual property.
Tajikistan: Tajikistan has several remaining steps to take to fulfill its intellectual property commitments under the 1993 U.S.-Tajikistan Trade Agreement. Specifically, Tajikistan is not yet a member of the Geneva Phonograms Convention; is not providing any protection or rights to U.S. and other foreign sound recordings; and does not clearly provide retroactive protection for works or sound recordings under its copyright law. There is weak enforcement of intellectual property rights in Tajikistan. Criminal penalties for intellectual property violations have not yet been adopted as required by the 1993 U.S.-Tajikistan Trade Agreement. Further, the Customs Code does not provide the proper authority to seize material at the border, as is necessary to conduct effective border enforcement. Ineffective border enforcement could cause Tajikistan to become a target for illegal optical media producers, a problem that other countries of the region have faced.
Thailand's intellectual property record over the past year has improved moderately. The intellectual property courts are imposing criminal penalties; however, these are often not sufficient to deter infringement and are often suspended pending appeal. Thai prosecutors remain unwilling to charge infringers for violations of customs and revenue laws, in addition to intellectual property infringement. Moreover, the periodic disappearance from police custody of critical evidence of copyright and trademark infringement continues to hamper prosecution. The government continues to focus on retail enforcement, but these efforts have not kept pace with widespread and conspicuous retail sale of infringing goods; however, the lack of confidentiality often results in retail operations becoming aware of raids prior to their execution. The government has stepped up enforcement efforts against infringing production, but needs to do more to address increasing levels of optical media piracy in Thailand. In this regard, the United States will monitor closely ongoing efforts to enact legislation necessary to implement a comprehensive regulatory regime to control optical media production. We also urge Thailand to address the inability of enforcement authorities to conduct raids outside business hours; this deficiency has become a significant liability to the effectiveness of the government's efforts to strengthen intellectual property enforcement.
Turkmenistan: Turkmenistan has several remaining steps to take to fulfill its intellectual
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