But the transformation is far from complete.
Criminal penalties are on the books, but real piracy enforcement has barely begun.
High volume pirate CD production continues unchecked, and the video and software markets are also saturated with piracy. While the framework for a concerted assault on this outlaw marketplace is beginning to take shape, USTR must make sure that it continues on course by placing Bulgaria on its Watch List for 1996. As spelled out in an accompanying side letter, Bulgaria promised to adopt effective enforcement procedures and remedies against copyright infringement and to join the Geneva Phonograms Convention by the end of 1992. Bulgaria adopted a new copyright law effective August 1, 1993. Most importantly, neither the new copyright law nor the Bulgarian penal code authorized the imposition of significant criminal sanctions such as imprisonment on copyright pirates.