II

103D CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 2041

To encourage beneficiary developing countries to provide adequate protection

of intellectual property rights, and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

APRIL 21 (legislative day, APRIL 11), 1994

Mr. LAUTENBERG (for himself and Mr. ROTH) introduced the following bill;

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance

A BILL

To encourage beneficiary developing countries to provide adequate protection of intellectual property rights, and for

other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Rights of Intellectual

5 Property Owners Fairness Facilitation Act of 1994’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 The Congress makes the following findings:

8 (1) United States industry loses billions of dol9 lars each year to countries that do not provide ade10 quate protection of intellectual property rights.
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1 (2) According to the Department of Commerce,

2 United States companies lose approximately

3 $50,000,000,000 annually as a result of violations of

4 intellectual property rights by foreign countries.

5 (3) It is in the interest of the United States to

6 leverage its foreign policy to achieve certain trade

7 policy objectives, such as adequate, effective, and

8 timely protection of intellectual property rights.

9 (4) Several countries that qualify under the

10 generalized system of preferences provisions have

11 been identified under section 182 of the Trade Act

12 of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2242) as countries that do not

13 provide adequate and effective protection of patents,

14 copyrights, and trademarks or deny fair and equi15 table market access to United States persons that

16 rely on intellectual property rights protection.

17 (5) Several countries that receive United States

18 foreign assistance also have been identified under

19 section 182 of the Trade Act of 1974 as countries

20 that do not provide adequate and effective protection

21 of patents, copyrights, and trademarks or deny fair

22 and equitable market access to United States per23 sons that rely on intellectual property rights protec24 tion.
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1 SEC. 3. COUNTRIES INELIGIBLE FOR GSP TREATMENT.

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—

3 (1) IMPLEMENTATION OF AGREEMENT ON

4 TRIPS.—Section 502(b) of the Trade Act of 1974

5 (19 U.S.C. 2462(b)) is amended—

6 (A) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of para7 graph (6),

8 (B) by striking the period at the end of

9 paragraph (7) and inserting ‘‘; and’’,

10 (C) by inserting immediately after para11 graph (7) the following new paragraph:

12 ‘‘(8) if such country is not implementing parts

13 I, II, and III of the Agreement on TRIPS—

14 ‘‘(A) beginning on the date that is 1 year

15 (2 years in the case of a country with respect

16 to which the President has made a qualified

17 certification) after the date the Agreement en18 ters into force and effect, or

19 ‘‘(B) beginning on the date that is 5 years

20 after the date the Agreement enters into force

21 and effect in the case of a least-developed bene22 ficiary developing country.’’,

23 (D) in the last sentence, by striking ‘‘(4),

24 (6), (7), and (8)’’ and inserting ‘‘(4), (5), (6),

25 (7), and (8)’’, and
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1 (E) by adding at the end the following new

2 sentence: ‘‘For purposes of paragraph (8)(A), a

3 ‘qualified certification’ means a certification by

4 the President to the Congress that is made

5 within 1 year after the date the Agreement on

6 TRIPS enters into force and effect and that

7 states that a country is making overall signifi8 cant progress in implementing parts I, II, and

9 III of the Agreement.’’.

10 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section

11 502(a) of such Act (19 U.S.C. 2462(a)) is amended

12 by adding at the end the following new paragraph:

13 ‘‘(5) For purposes of this title—

14 ‘‘(A) the term ‘Agreement on TRIPS’

15 means the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects

16 of Intellectual Property Rights entered into as

17 part of the Uruguay Round Agreements, and

18 ‘‘(B) the term ‘Uruguay Round Agree19 ments’ means the trade agreements resulting

20 from the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade

21 negotiations under the auspices of the General

22 Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.’’.

23 (b) DESIGNATION AS ELIGIBLE GSP COUNTRY.—

24 Section 502 of such Act (19 U.S.C. 2462) is amended by

25 adding at the end the following new subsection:
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1 ‘‘(f) DESIGNATION WHERE COUNTRY ADHERES TO

2 THE AGREEMENT ON TRIPS; ANNUAL REPORTS.—

3 ‘‘(1) DESIGNATION AS BENEFICIARY DEVELOP4 ING COUNTRY.—A country—

5 ‘‘(A) which has been denied designation as

6 a beneficiary developing country on the basis of

7 subsection (b)(8), or

8 ‘‘(B) with respect to which such designa9 tion has been withdrawn or suspended based on

10 subsection (b)(8),

11 may be designated as a beneficiary developing coun12 try under this title, if the President determines that

13 the country is fully implementing parts I, II, and III

14 of the Agreement on TRIPS and reports the deter15 mination to the Congress.

16 ‘‘(2) ANNUAL REPORT.—Not later than the

17 date that is 1 year after the date the Agreement on

18 TRIPS enters into force and effect, and annually

19 thereafter, the President shall determine whether

20 each country designated as a beneficiary developing

21 country under this title is fully implementing parts

22 I, II, and III of the Agreement and shall report such

23 findings to the Congress.’’.
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1 SEC. 4. COORDINATION OF TRADE POLICY AND FOREIGN

2 POLICY.

3 (a) OTHER EFFORTS TO IMPROVE PROTECTION OF

4 INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS.—The United States

5 Trade Representative shall notify the Secretary of State,

6 the Secretary of Commerce, and the Administrator of the

7 Agency for International Development on a regular basis

8 of any country which is not fully implementing parts I,

9 II, and III of the Agreement on TRIPS.

10 (b) ENCOURAGING IMPLEMENTATION OF AGREE11 MENT ON TRIPS.—The Secretary of State, the Secretary

12 of Commerce, and the Administrator of the Agency for

13 International Development shall cooperate with the United

14 States Trade Representative by encouraging any country

15 that receives foreign assistance and is not fully implement16 ing the Agreement on TRIPS to enact and enforce laws

17 that will enable the country to implement the Agreement

18 on TRIPS. To further this objective, the Secretary of

19 State shall instruct the head of each United States diplo20 matic mission abroad to include intellectual property

21 rights protection as a priority objective of the mission.

22 (c) OTHER ACTIONS TO ENCOURAGE PROTECTION

23 OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS.—Notwithstanding

24 any other provision of law, the President is authorized to

25 undertake the following actions, where appropriate, with

26 respect to a developing country to encourage and help the
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1 country improve the protection of intellectual property

2 rights:

3 (1) Provide Overseas Private Investment Cor4 poration insurance for intellectual property assets.

5 (2) Require foreign assistance programs to pro6 vide support for the development of national intellec7 tual property laws and regulations and for the devel8 opment of the infrastructure necessary to protect in9 tellectual property rights.

10 (3) Establish technical cooperation committees

11 on intellectual property standards within regional or12 ganizations.

13 (4) Establish, as a joint effort between the

14 United States Government and the private sector, a

15 council to facilitate and provide intellectual property16 related technical assistance through the Agency for

17 International Development and the Department of

18 Commerce.

19 (5) Require United States representatives to

20 multilateral lending institutions to seek the estab21 lishment of programs within the institutions to sup22 port strong intellectual property rights protection in

23 recipient countries that have fully implemented parts

24 I, II, and III of the Agreement on TRIPS.

25 (d) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section:
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1 (1) AGREEMENT ON TRIPS.—The term ‘‘Agree2 ment on TRIPS’’ means the Agreement on Trade3 Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights

4 entered into as part of the trade agreements result5 ing from the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade

6 negotiations under the auspices of the General

7 Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.

8 (2) DEVELOPING COUNTRY.—The term ‘‘devel9 oping country’’ means any country which is—

10 (A) eligible to be designated a beneficiary

11 developing country pursuant to title V of the

12 Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2461 et seq.), or

13 (B) designated as a least-developed bene14 ficiary developing country pursuant to section

15 504(c)(6) of such Act (19 U.S.C. 2464(c)(6)).

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