United States Removes Both From Special 301 Watchlist

United States Trade Representative, Charlene Barshefsky, confirmed that both the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the Hashemite Kindgom of Jordan have both been removed from the USTRs Special 301 Watchlist. The news announced together with the release of the results of the USTRs 2000 "Special 301" annual review, a report which examines the adequacy and effectiveness of intellectual property protection in over 70 countries. The UAEs removal from the Watchlist has been recommended by the Business Software Alliance (BSA) for the past two years, however although last years report concluded that the UAE had made progress, it remained on the list.

"Both the UAE and Jordan have made great strides forward in the protection of intellectual property rights, particularly in the reduction of software piracy," said Ashok Sharma, Middle East director for the BSA. "Both these countries are focused on building the infrastructure and creating the environment to encourage the IT sector and ensure that they take their own place in the global information economy. We have been expecting the UAEs removal from the Watchlist and are delighted that the UAEs longstanding efforts to reduce intellectual property rights abuses and protect copyright holders has now received the official recognition from the USTR." The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has consistently demonstrated its deep and fundamental commitment to protecting intellectual property rights, taking steps to assure the adequate and effective protection of patented products. These steps have included specific commitments on TRIPS implementation, data protection and not providing marketing approval for unauthorized copies of patented products. This is evidenced by the decreases seen in the UAEs software piracy rate from above 90% in 1995 to below 50% today.

"The USTR's recognition of the progress made by Jordan in fighting copyright piracy is also excellent news. Jordan, under the wise leadership of King Abdullah, has committed to a far reaching policy of creating a friendly environment for the IT industry and protecting intellectual property rights, which has already received recognition from the IT industry," said Sharma.

Many other Middle East countries remain on the Special 301 Watchlist report, including Egypt and Turkey which have been newly added to the Priority Watchlist this year. The report cited both the fact that Egypts intellectual property laws do not comply fully with the TRIPS Agreement and the fact that enforcement on the whole remains lax and therefore copyright piracy and trademark infringement remain unchecked. The report urged Turkey to expedite legislative action to address benchmarks established in the 1997 review and noted that efforts to curb copyright piracy remain ineffective. Kuwait, Lebanon, Qatar, Pakistan, the Sultanate of Oman and the Saudi Arabia remain on the watchlist. "Both Kuwait and Oman have made tremendous efforts in both amending copyright laws to offer copyright holders more protection and implementing these laws through legislation, education and enforcement," said Sharma. "We hope that Kuwait and Oman might be removed from the USTRs watch list next year." The Special 301 report also addresses significant concerns in such trading partners as Ukraine, Italy, Israel Malaysia, India, Korea, Poland, and the West Bank and Gaza.