USTR Highlights IP Issues in China, India, Other Countries in Special 301 Report
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative kept the same countries included on last year’s higher- and lower-tier watch lists for copyright and other intellectual property rights violations on its 2017 Special 301 Report released April 28 (here). The report highlighted China’s continued inclusion in the higher-tier “Priority Watch List,” because of “longstanding and new IP concerns” that “strongly merit attention.” “China is home to widespread infringing activity, including trade secret theft, rampant online piracy and counterfeiting, and high levels of physical pirated and counterfeit exports to markets around the globe,” USTR said.
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Although the manufacture and export of counterfeit goods from China remains widespread, CBP and ICE report positive joint operations and information sharing with the General Administration of China Customs (GACC), the report says. USTR pointed to March and April 2016 joint enforcement operations, which resulted in seizures of more than 46,000 items, and in more than 1,400 seizures, respectively. In September, CBP, ICE and GACC convened an IP working group meeting to plan more enforcement activities, USTR said. IP rights holders also “praise” GACC’s “proactive seizure” of suspected counterfeits before export, but China should take more action to stop the sale of counterfeit goods in physical markets in the country, USTR said.
It's also difficult to do business with India, which implements inadequate enforcement actions and policies and maintains high tariffs on IP-intensive goods, the report said. The report also calls out ineffective border enforcement policies against counterfeit and pirated goods in Canada, Egypt, Indonesia, Mexico, Turkey, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Further, many countries’ customs officials don’t have the authority to take “ex officio” action to seize and destroy goods at the border or take such action for in-transit goods, USTR said.