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Singapore: Singapore took a number of steps during 1998 to enhance intellectual property protection, including accession to the Berne Convention, and the enactment of geographic indications and integrated circuits legislation which is intended to implement fully Singapore's TRIPS obligations a year ahead of the mandatory deadline. Nevertheless, overall piracy rates increased since last year. One shortcoming of Singapore's intellectual property regime is the maintenance of a voluntary code of conduct for optical disc producers which lacks an effective enforcement mechanism available to rights holders. Although it appears that most or all of the infringing discs sold in Singapore are smuggled into the country, effective border measures have not been taken to address the importation and transhipment of infringing goods through Singapore. A fundamental deficiency in Singapore's regime is the "self-policing" approach to IPR enforcement which shifts to rights owners the primary burden and expense of investigating and prosecuting infringement. This system is inadequate to cope with the growing problem of optical disc piracy, as illustrated by the increased levels of retail piracy. Although Singapore has initiated a consumer awareness initiative in order to reduce demand for pirated goods, the government's failure to address the open marketing and sale of substantial volumes of pirated materials in well-known malls sends conflicting signals about the government's genuine intentions.
South Africa: South Africa's Medicines Act appears to grant the Health Minister ill defined authority to issue compulsory licenses, authorize parallel imports, and potentially otherwise abrogate patent rights. Implementation of the law has been suspended pending the resolution of a constitutional challenge in the South African courts. Undisclosed test data is also not adequately protected under South African law. During the past year, South African representatives have led a faction of nation's in the World Health Organization (WHO) in calling for a reduction in the level of protection provided for pharmaceuticals in TRIPS. Copyright piracy and trademark counterfeiting is widespread and the U.S. copyright industry estimates that trade losses due to piracy of copyrighted works increased more than 35 percent between 1997 and 1998. However, the South African Government recently took the welcome step of adopting a implementing strategy to its 1997 Counterfeit Goods Act which could strengthen enforcement. We call on the Government of South Africa to bring its IPR regime into full compliance with TRIPS before the January 1, 2000 deadline, ensure that all Government offices use only legitimate software, and clarify that the powers granted in the Medicines Act are consistent with its international obligations and will not be used to weaken or abrogate pharmaceutical patent protection. We will continue to address these issues with the South African Government and will conduct an out-of-cycle review of South Africa's progress towards addressing these concerns in September 1999.
In Spain, while copyright piracy is generally low in most product areas, the business software industry continues to face some of the highest levels of piracy in Europe. Illegal copying of business application software for internal use remains pervasive, and continues to account for the majority of losses to industry in Spain stemming from piracy. Though Spanish government enforcement activities increased substantially in 1998, the slow pace of both civil and criminal court proceedings has diluted the impact of the increased raids. In particular, we note continued obstacles to timely prosecution of piracy in Spanish courts and inadequate penalties. Enforcement efforts are also hindered by the lack of sufficient criminal penalties to prove a real
