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Venezuela has played a constructive role in moving the Andean Community toward making the changes needed to bring Community Decisions relating to intellectual property into conformity with TRIPS before the January 1, 2000 deadline. The government created a new intellectual property office (SAPI) in March 1997, which is expected to focus and improve enforcement efforts. It is slated to become operational in May 1998. The decisions under review are not fully TRIPS-consistent with respect to patents, trademarks, copyright, plant varieties, and enforcement of rights. Despite significant improvements — especially in the enforcement of its copyright law — Venezuela does not yet provide adequate and effective protection of intellectual property rights. There is still widespread infringement of well-known trademarks, videos, satellite signals, and other protected works. We look to Venezuela to move quickly to bring its laws into conformity with TRIPS before January 1, 2000 and to continue to increase the effectiveness of the enforcement of its laws.
Vietnam: The Government is still in the formative stages of drafting, enacting and enforcing intellectual property laws. Copyright piracy is the most pressing problem, though there is some record of trademark enforcement. Vietnam's 1996 civil code provides a general framework for an intellectual property system. However, problems persist. Copyright piracy is the most pressing problem, though there is also some unchecked trademark counterfeiting. Vietnam's patent law excludes protection for pharmaceutical and agricultural chemical products, and lacks regulations or additional amendments that would make patent protection fully consistent with international standards. Although U.S. copyrighted works remain unprotected in Vietnam, the Government has begun the process of issuing guidance to enable officials to begin to take actions to protect U.S. works. After our bilateral copyright agreement comes into effect, we look to the Government of Vietnam to enforce its new copyright regime vigorously to reduce piracy levels measurably. We also expect the Government of Vietnam to address intellectual property rights issues in the contexts of negotiations on a bilateral trade agreement and its accession to the WTO, where compliance with TRIPS without transition will be required before the date of accession. We will conduct an out-of-cycle review in December to evaluate progress toward the goals of improving IPR protection and reducing the level of piracy and counterfeiting.
