The United States removed Uzbekistan from its intellectual property watch list

The United States Trade Representative (USTR) published another “Special 301 Report” (PDF), in which it excluded Uzbekistan from the intellectual property protection watch list, the correspondent of “Gazeta.uz” reports. The country has been in it since 2000.

Special 301 Report is an annual review of “the global state of intellectual property rights protection and enforcement.” The USTR has conducted this monitoring since 1989 in accordance with the US Trade Act. For the new report, USTR assessed more than 100 trading partners, including 20 on the Watch List and 7 on the Priority Watch List. Being on these lists, according to the USTR, indicates the country’s serious shortcomings in the area of ​​intellectual property rights.

“Uzbekistan was removed from the watch list this year due to sustained progress in resolving long-standing issues related to the protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights,” the report says.

USTR notes that in February, Uzbekistan adopted amendments to the Customs Code that give customs authorities the right to suspend the import and export of counterfeit products. The country approved the Intellectual Property Development Strategy for 2022–2026, and in 2019 joined the Performances and Phonograms Treaty and the Copyright Treaty adopted by the World Intellectual Property Organization. USTR also highlighted the efforts of the Uzbek authorities starting in 2021 to transition government agencies to licensed programs.

“The United States also recognizes the continued high-level political attention to intellectual property, including Uzbekistan’s support and participation in the intellectual property working group of the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) between the United States and Central Asian countries,” the report says.

USTR emphasized that the United States will continue to work with Uzbekistan and will “closely monitor” the implementation of amendments to the Customs Code and the transition to licensing programs in the government. In addition, the US called for measures to eliminate the growing counterfeit products in the country.

The Ministry of Justice of Uzbekistan called the country’s exclusion from the list the result of systematic work.

“Today’s results are the fruit of systematic work over the last five years, which was carried out in the direction of simplifying procedures for registering intellectual property, effectively protecting their rights, joining international agreements and developing external relations, as well as implementing the requirements of the WTO agreement on trade aspects of rights into national legislation intellectual property rights (TRIPS),” the Ministry of Justice said.

Of the Central Asian countries, only Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan were on the Watch List, the department added.

In addition to Uzbekistan, the USTR removed the Dominican Republic from its watch list. Countries that remain on the Watch List include Algeria, Belarus, Canada, Egypt, Pakistan and Turkey. The Priority Watch List includes: Argentina, Venezuela, India, Indonesia, China, Russia and Chile.