Tajikistan has been removed from the Intellectual Property (IP) Watch List of the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR)
Tajikistan has been removed from the Intellectual Property (IP) Watch List of the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR)
Tajikistan has been removed from the Intellectual Property (IP) Watch List of the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR)
According to the Special 301 Report, Tajikistan has been removed from the Intellectual Property (IP) Watch List of the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR). Tajikistan is removed from the Watch List in 2016 in recognition of Tajikistan's efforts to improve IPR protection and enforcement, including providing ex officio authority to customs authorities; acceding to international IPR treaties that contain obligations to strengthen IPR protection and enforcement (e.g., the Singapore Treaty on the Law of Trademarks, the Hague Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Industrial Designs, the Protocol Relating to the Madrid agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks (Madrid Protocol), WIPO Copyright Treaty (WCT) and WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty WPPT)); and adopting amendments to provide a system for protecting against the unfair commercial use, as well as unauthorized disclosure, of undisclosed test or other data generated to obtain marketing approval for pharmaceutical and agricultural chemical products. The OCR of Tajikistan announced in 2015 will remain open through the fall of 2016 to reinforce the positive steps Tajikistan has taken to strengthen IPR.
In 2016, USTR encourages Tajikistan to focus efforts to complete the benchmark set out in the OCR by formalizing a presidential-level decree, law, or regulation mandating government use of licensed software by the fall of 2016. Tajikistan has established a working group, headed by the First Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Trade, to oversee this process. If Tajikistan is unable to meet the fall 2016 deadline, USTR may reconsider Tajikistan’s Special 301 status.
USTR may conduct additional OCRs of other trading partners as circumstances warrant, or as requested by the trading partner.