Improving Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights
In support of its commitment to significantly reduce
intellectual property rights (IPR) infringement levels,
China agreed to
the following specific actions:
·
Increased Criminal Prosecutions.
China has
agreed to increase the number of criminal prosecutions for IPR violations
relative to the total number of IPR administrative cases. The Supreme People’s Court, Supreme
People’s Procuratorate, and Ministry of Public Security have issued draft
guidelines for public comment to ensure the timely referral of IPR violations
from administrative bodies to criminal prosecution.
·
Reducing Exports of Infringing Goods. The Chinese Ministry of Public Security
and the General Administration of Customs will issue regulations to ensure the
timely transfer of cases for criminal investigation. The goal of the regulations is to reduce
exports of infringing goods by increasing criminal prosecution.
·
Improving National Police Coordination. The Chinese Ministry of Public Security
has established a leading group responsible for overall research, planning and
coordination of all IPR criminal enforcement to ensure a focused and coordinated
nationwide enforcement effort.
·
Enhancing Cooperation Between Law Enforcement
Authorities. The
United States
and China will
immediately establish a bilateral IPR law enforcement working group whose
members will cooperate on enforcement activities to reduce cross-border
infringing activities. This group
will comprise officials on the
U.S. side
including from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (Customs and Border
Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement), the U.S. Department of
Justice and Federal Bureau of Investigation, and on
China’s side
from the Ministry of Public Security.
In addition,
U.S. and Chinese
customs authorities will cooperate on the exchange of infringement data,
information on significant seizures, and law enforcement to enhance the ability
of Chinese authorities to identify and deter exports of infringing products from
China.
·
Expanded Initiative to Address Piracy of Movies and
Audio-Visual Products. The
Chinese government agrees to aggressively counter movie piracy by dedicating
enforcement teams to pursue enforcement actions against pirates and regularly
instruct enforcement authorities nationwide that copies of films and
audio-visual products still in censorship or import review or otherwise not yet
authorized for distribution are deemed pirated and subject to enhanced
enforcement.
·
Ensuring Use of Legal Software in the State-Owned
Sector. By the end of 2005, the
Chinese government will complete its legalization program to ensure that all
central, provincial and local government offices are using only licensed
software, and will extend the program to enterprises (including state-owned
enterprises) in 2006.
·
Fighting Software End-User Piracy. The Chinese government has now declared
that software end-user piracy is considered to constitute “harm to the public
interest” and as such will be subject to administrative penalties
nationwide. Furthermore, software
end-user piracy is subject to criminal penalties in appropriate
circumstances.
·
Establishment of Chinese Embassy IPR Ombudsman. The Chinese government will appoint an
Intellectual Property Rights Ombudsman at the Chinese Embassy in
Washington to serve as the point
of contact for
U.S. companies,
particularly small- and medium-sized businesses, seeking to secure and enforce
their IPR in
China or
experiencing IPR problems in
China.
·
Ridding Trade Fairs of Fake Goods. The relevant Chinese agencies, including
the Ministry of Commerce, the China Trademark Office, the State Intellectual
Property Office, and the National Copyright Administration of China will
strengthen their efforts to improve IPR enforcement at trade shows and will soon
issue new regulations to achieve this goal. This effort will include strict
enforcement at all economic trade-related and international trade shows in
China.
·
Promise to Join Global Internet Treaties Next
Year. By June 30, 2006, the State Council intends to submit
to the National People’s Congress the legislative package needed for
China to accede
to the WIPO Internet Treaties.
China
will also begin immediately a nationwide crack-down on Internet piracy,
including through enforcement at Internet cafes.
·
Clarification of Criminal Judicial
Interpretation. The Chinese
government confirms that the criminal thresholds in the 2004 Judicial
Interpretation (JI) are applicable to sound recordings and that the JI makes
exporters subject to independent criminal liability.
Facilitating Increased
U.S.
Exports to
China
·
Government Purchases of
U.S.
Software and Other
U.S.
Goods and Services.
China
will delay issuing draft regulations on software procurement, as it further
considers public comments and makes revisions in light of WTO rules. The draft
software regulations threatened to close off a market with a potential value of
over $8 billion to
U.S. firms.
China
announced that it will accelerate its efforts to join the WTO Government
Procurement Agreement (GPA) and towards this end will initiate technical
consultations with other WTO Members.
·
Distribution Rights. Fulfilling WTO and prior JCCT
commitments, China took steps to ensure that U.S. products can be freely
distributed in China, clearing a large backlog of distribution license
applications and preparing a “How to” guide for businesses seeking to acquire
distribution rights, expanding on the guidelines announced in April 2005. Finally,
China confirmed
that all enterprises in
China, including
those located in bonded zones, can acquire licenses to distribute goods
throughout
China.
·
Direct Sales.
The Regulations on Management
of Direct Selling have been submitted to the State Council for review, which
will provide a legal basis for
U.S. direct
sales firms that wish to sell
U.S. goods
door-to-door in
China.
China
committed to ensure that the final regulations conform to
China’s
applicable WTO obligations, including with respect to distribution of imported
goods and fixed location requirements.
Addressing
Barriers to
U.S.
Services Exports
·
Insurance
Market Access.
China agreed to convene another meeting of the
U.S.-China Insurance Dialogue before the end of 2005 to discuss regulatory
concerns and barriers to further liberalization of the
sector.
·
Telecom Market Access. Building on the successful insurance dialogue
that has helped
U.S. insurers to
expand market access in
China,
China agreed to
a new dialogue under the JCCT Information Technology Working Group to discuss
capitalization requirements, resale services, and other issues agreed to by the
two sides.
Opening
Markets for
U.S.
Agriculture
·
China
completed the regulatory approval process for a corn biotech variety, the final
of a series of approvals for
U.S. biotech
varieties.
·
The U.S. Department of Agriculture and
China’s
Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine reached
agreement on a Memorandum of Understanding designed to facilitate cooperation on
animal and plant health safety issues and improve efforts to expand
U.S. access to
China’s markets
for agricultural Commodities.
Ensuring
that Trade Is Fair
·
China
will provide a detailed accounting of its subsidies to the WTO by the end of
2005.
·
China
and the United
States will intensify discussions on structural
issues related to
China’s status
as a non-market economy under
U.S.
anti-dumping law, including a review of
China’s subsidy
practices.
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