Reports indicate that the government is planning to conduct a public destruction of pirated product in Caracas on February 28, 1996. Efforts are still underway to track down large duplicators and distributors of pirate product. The recording industry conducted 35 enforcement actions last year, mostly against street vendors. The Caracas police department was the only government agency which was cooperative with these actions. Corruption and lack of interest among most government and enforcement officials stifle the potential to pursue anti-piracy activities.
Judges are reluctant to order the destruction of seized tapes, as permitted under the law.
In addition, criminal actions take three to four years to complete. Bringing a civil action also takes a long time and is quite costly. IDSA reports the manufacture of pirated products as well as unauthorized parallel imports of entertainment software in Venezuela. Much of the pirate entertainment software in Venezuela is imported, most notably from Taiwan, Hong Kong and China. Inadequate enforcement by the Venezuelan authorities has contributed to this serious problem.