In Ukraine, the IIPA said the rising level of piracy without effective enforcement and the unregulated growth of illegal optical disk media plants should keep Kyiv at the same level of concern. Belarus' lack of adherence to the phonograms convention, its failure to provide or apply civil or criminal penalties and the rising level of piracy generally in the country prompted the IIPA to recommend that Belarus be moved up to the next highest level of concern, the Watch List. Bulgaria, which only last year was moved down from the Priority Watch to Watch list by the U.S. Trade Representative, remains of concern, said the IIPA because it has not eradicated the pirate CD manufacturing plants in the country and continues to provide less than effective enforcement of intellectual property rights. Romania took some important steps to reform its legal regime by joining both the Berne copyright and Geneva phonograms conventions in late 1998, said the IIPA, but persistent problems of poor enforcement in Romania across all copyright industries, and a continuing lack of prosecutions, prompted the alliance to recommend that Romania be moved up to the Watch List. Although the Estonian market is relatively small, the alliance said, it is dominated by piracy in almost every sector.
Enforcement is thin, it said, and judicial enforcement almost non-existent.
The alliance urged the trade representative to put Estonia on the Watch List as well, with a special review in the next six months. Kazakhstan, despite adopting some copyright protection laws in recent years, still has a major problem which prevents U.S. creative industries from selling or producing in the country. The alliance urged that Kazakhstan be placed on a special list this year to bring American government pressure to make more progress. IIPA President Eric Smith says the area of East and Central Europe and Central Asia is no longer the leading one for piracy in the world, eclipsed by problems in Israel, Greece, and China. U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky must issue her office's priority lists on the trade practices by April 30th.