OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES
TRADE REPRESENTATIVE
EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT
WASHINGTON
20506
| 90–27 | ||
| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Friday, April 27, 1990 |
Contact: | Torie Clarke Timothy O'Leary (202) 395–3230 |
HILLS ANNOUNCES RESULTS OF SPECIAL 301 REVIEW
United States Trade Representative Carla A. Hills announced today that significant progress has been made in negotiations to obtain improved protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights with the trading partners identified under Special 301 last May. Therefore, at this time, no country will be designated as a "priority foreign country", making it subject to investigation and possible retaliation under the Special 301 provisions of U.S. trade law.
"This has been a year of steady improvement in the protection of intellectual property rights around the world" Hills said. "In both market and non-market economies, there is the growing realization that innovation and creativity must be protected as vigilantly as any national resource. Since late last year, the governments of Korea, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Colombia, Chile, Malaysia, Indonesia, Egypt, Spain, Portugal and Yugoslavia took specific measures to enhance intellectual property protection or its enforcement. Other countries have committed considerable effort to the Uruguay Round Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights negotiations, scheduled to conclude in December 1990."
On May 25, 1989 USTR announced that under the Special 301 intellectual property provisions of the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988, the Administration had identified 25 countries whose practices deserved special attention. Of these, 17 were placed on the Watch List while the remaining eight trading partners were placed on a Priority Watch List.
The status of the eight trading partners on the Priority Watch List was reviewed on November 1, 1989. Saudi Arabia, Korea and Taiwan were moved to the Watch List at that time because of significant progress in the protection of intellectual property rights.
Brazil, India, the Peoples' Republic of China, (PRC) and Thailand remain on the Priority Watch List. Although the PRC has taken some steps to improve its protection of intellectual
1
