agreed to provide protection from unfair commercial use for undisclosed test data submitted to obtain marketing approval for pharmaceutical and agricultural chemical products. Although the United States recognizes Ukraine's marked improvements in IPR protection, it will continue to monitor closely Ukraine's further progress on IPR protection and enforcement.
VENEZUELA
Venezuela will remain on the Priority Watch List in 2006. Venezuela made minimal progress in strengthening its weak IPR regime this past year. High levels of copyright piracy continue to rise, while proposed copyright legislation under consideration would severely undercut the existing Venezuelan copyright law, as well as bilateral and international standards of IP protection. Venezuela does not provide protection against unfair commercial use of undisclosed test and other data submitted by pharmaceutical companies seeking marketing approval for their products. Furthermore, Venezuela lacks a coordinated system between its health and patent authorities to prevent the issuance of marketing approvals for unauthorized patent-infringing copies of pharmaceutical products. The only progress on IPR issues came from the Customs and Tax Agency, which enacted a regulation to allow ex officio seizures of pirated and counterfeit goods. The United States urges the Venezuelan government to take immediate action to improve IPR protection, particularly by protecting undisclosed test data against unfair commercial use, addressing copyright piracy, amending inadequate legislative proposals, fighting trademark counterfeiting, and improving IPR enforcement.
