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production equipment. We welcome recent assurances from the Government of Macao to address these issues, as well as new legislation to take effect May 1 that will license the import and export of compact discs and CD production equipment. We look forward to the implementation of an anti-piracy program that will quickly yield tangible results.
Russia remains one of the largest pirate markets. As required by our bilateral trade agreement, Russia has adopted a legal framework that with some exceptions meets international standards. However, enforcement of those laws has been limited. Russia strengthened enforcement efforts somewhat in 1997, particularly around Moscow. In July 1997, a Russian Anti-Piracy Organization was established by the Russian film industry with the cooperation of U.S. industry to press for increased enforcement and to assist in enforcement training. Seizures of pirated products have increased, but few prosecutions have ensued and fines levied are too low to be effective deterrents. We have proposed a program of comprehensive enforcement assistance to further this effort in which U.S. industry is prepared to take an active part, and are now moving forward with it. Russia still does not provide retroactive copyright protection for U.S. works and sound recordings, but has acknowledged that it must do so. We will look for Russia to take the steps necessary to bring its intellectual property laws into full compliance with TRIPS no later than its accession to the World Trade Organization, without transition.
Turkey: On January 16, as a result of an out-of-cycle review, Ambassador Barshefsky announced that Turkey would be maintained on the Priority Watch List but that the United States would not consider requests to augment Turkey's benefits under the U.S. Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) until long-sought improvements were made in Turkey's intellectual property regime. Since that announcement, Turkey made progress on several of the six benchmarks identified in last year's Special 301 announcement, but much remains to be done. Taxes on the showing or foreign and domestic films have been equalized; the Prime Minister issued a directive to all government agencies to legalize the software used in their offices; and a public anti-piracy campaign was begun. However, amendments to the copyright and patent laws have not yet been passed and, therefore, these laws remain deficient and TRIPS inconsistent in a number of respects. Penalties for copyright piracy need to be increased, and effective enforcement actions must be taken to address widespread piracy. Turkey's future benefits under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) will depend on progress on the remaining benchmarks. The Administration intends to closely monitor Turkey's progress toward resolving remaining U.S. concerns and is hopeful that recent progress is an indication of Turkey's commitment to provide improved intellectual property protection.
