II

105TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1426

To encourage beneficiary developing countries to provide adequate protection

of intellectual property rights, and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

NOVEMBER 7, 1997

Mr. LAUTENBERG 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 1997’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 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

24 protection.
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1 SEC. 3. COUNTRIES INELIGIBLE FOR GSP TREATMENT.

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—

3 (1) IMPLEMENTATION OF AGREEMENT ON

4 TRIPS AND OTHER AGREEMENTS RELATING TO IN5 TELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS.—Section 502(b)(2)

6 of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2462(b)(2)) is

7 amended—

8 (A) by inserting immediately after sub9 paragraph (G) the following new subpara10 graphs:

11 ‘‘(H) Such country is not implementing

12 parts I, II, and III of the Agreement on

13 TRIPS—

14 ‘‘(i) beginning on the date that is 1

15 year after the date of enactment of the

16 Rights of Intellectual Property Owners

17 Fairness Facilitation Act of 1997; or

18 ‘‘(ii) by January 1, 2000, in the case

19 of a least-developed beneficiary developing

20 country.

21 ‘‘(I) Beginning on the date that is 90 days

22 after the date of enactment of the Rights of In23 tellectual Property Owners Fairness Facilita24 tion Act of 1997, such country is not imple25 menting—
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1 ‘‘(i) article 70(9) of part VII of the

2 Agreement on TRIPS; or

3 ‘‘(ii) any bilateral or multilateral

4 agreement (other than an agreement de5 scribed in subparagraph (H) or clause (i))

6 to protect and enforce intellectual property

7 rights entered into with the United

8 States.’’.

9 (B) in the last sentence, by striking ‘‘(D),

10 (E), (F), and (G)’’ and inserting ‘‘(D), (E),

11 (F), (G), (H), and (I)’’.

12 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 507

13 of such Act (19 U.S.C. 2467) is amended by adding

14 at the end the following new paragraph:

15 ‘‘(6) AGREEMENT ON TRIPS.—

16 ‘‘(A) TRIPS.—The term ‘Agreement on

17 TRIPS’ means the Agreement on Trade-Relat18 ed Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights en19 tered into as part of the Uruguay Round

20 Agreements.

21 ‘‘(B) URUGUAY ROUND AGREEMENTS.—

22 The term ‘Uruguay Round Agreements’ means

23 the trade agreements resulting from the Uru24 guay Round of multilateral trade negotiations
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1 under the auspices of the General Agreement

2 on Tariffs and Trade.’’.

3 (b) DESIGNATION AS ELIGIBLE GSP COUNTRY.—

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

5 adding at the end the following new subsection:

6 ‘‘(g) DESIGNATION WHERE COUNTRY ADHERES TO

7 THE AGREEMENT ON TRIPS AND OTHER INTELLECTUAL

8 PROPERTY RIGHTS AGREEMENTS; ANNUAL REPORTS.—

9 ‘‘(1) DESIGNATION AS BENEFICIARY DEVELOP10 ING COUNTRY.—A country—

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

12 a beneficiary developing country on the basis of

13 subsection (b)(2)(H) or (I), or

14 ‘‘(B) with respect to which such designa15 tion has been withdrawn or suspended based on

16 subsection (b)(2) (H) or (I),

17 may be designated as a beneficiary developing coun18 try under this title, if the President determines that

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

20 article 70(9) of part VII of the Agreement on

21 TRIPS, and any other agreement entered into with

22 the United States that relates to intellectual prop23 erty rights, and reports the determination to

24 Congress.

25 ‘‘(2) REPORTS.—
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1 ‘‘(A) ANNUAL REPORTS.—Not later than

2 the date that is 1 year after the date of enact3 ment of the Rights of Intellectual Property

4 Owners Fairness Facilitation Act of 1997, and

5 annually thereafter, the President shall deter6 mine whether each country designated as a ben7 eficiary developing country under this title is

8 fully implementing parts I, II, and III of the

9 Agreement on TRIPS and shall report such

10 findings to Congress.

11 ‘‘(B) OTHER REPORTS.—Not later than 90

12 days after the date of enactment of the Rights

13 of Intellectual Property Owners Fairness Facili14 tation Act of 1997, and annually thereafter, the

15 President shall determine whether each country

16 designated as a beneficiary developing country

17 under this title is fully implementing article

18 70(9) of part VII of the Agreement on TRIPS

19 and any other agreement entered into with the

20 United States that relates to intellectual prop21 erty rights and shall report such determination

22 to 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, III and article 70(9) of part VII of the Agreement on

10 TRIPS, and any other agreement entered into with the

11 United States that relates to intellectual property rights.

12 (b) ENCOURAGING IMPLEMENTATION OF AGREE13 MENT ON TRIPS.—The Secretary of State, the Secretary

14 of Commerce, and the Administrator of the Agency for

15 International Development shall cooperate with the United

16 States Trade Representative by encouraging any country

17 that receives foreign assistance and is not fully implement18 ing the Agreement on TRIPS or any other agreement en19 tered into with the United States that relates to intellec20 tual property rights to enact and enforce laws that will

21 enable the country to implement the Agreement on TRIPS

22 and any other intellectual property rights agreement. To

23 further this objective, the Secretary of State shall instruct

24 the head of each United States diplomatic mission abroad

25 to include intellectual property rights protection as a pri26 ority objective of the mission.
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1 (c) OTHER ACTIONS TO ENCOURAGE PROTECTION

2 OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS.—Notwithstanding

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

4 undertake the following actions, where appropriate, with

5 respect to a developing country to encourage and help the

6 country improve the protection of intellectual property

7 rights:

8 (1) Provide Overseas Private Investment Cor9 poration insurance for intellectual property assets.

10 (2) Require foreign assistance programs to pro11 vide support for the development of national intellec12 tual property laws and regulations and for the devel13 opment of the infrastructure necessary to protect in14 tellectual property rights.

15 (3) Establish technical cooperation committees

16 on intellectual property standards within regional

17 organizations.

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

19 United States Government and the private sector, a

20 council to facilitate and provide intellectual property21 related technical assistance through the Agency for

22 International Development and the Department of

23 Commerce.

24 (5) Require United States representatives to

25 multilateral lending institutions to seek the estab-
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1 lishment of programs within the institutions to sup2 port strong intellectual property rights protection in

3 recipient countries that have fully implemented parts

4 I, II, III and article 70(9) of part VII of the Agree5 ment on TRIPS, and any other agreement entered

6 into with the United States that relates to intellec7 tual property rights.

8 (d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section:

9 (1) AGREEMENT ON TRIPS.—The term ‘‘Agree10 ment on TRIPS’’ means the Agreement on Trade11 Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights en12 tered into as part of the trade agreements resulting

13 from the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade nego14 tiations under the auspices of the General Agree15 ment on Tariffs and Trade.

16 (2) DEVELOPING COUNTRY.—The term ‘‘devel17 oping country’’ means any country which is—

18 (A) eligible to be designated a beneficiary

19 developing country pursuant to title V of the

20 Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2461 et seq.); or

21 (B) designated as a least-developed bene22 ficiary developing country pursuant to section

23 502 of such Act (19 U.S.C. 2462).

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