U.S. calls for proof of China's IPR enforcement efforts at WTO.

In an attempt to monitor international trade, the U.S. has asked China for detailed information regarding its efforts to enforce intellectual property rights (IPR) laws. A provision of the World Trade Organization's (WTO) Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights requires this information exchange when a WTO member country has doubts about another member's IPR laws enforcement.

The information the U.S may receive from China could be used in a WTO dispute settlement case against China over its inability to adequately protect copyrights and other IPRs. China has until Jan. 23, 2006 to respond to the request.

The U.S has requested the following information regarding the remedies and punishments imposed: the location, year, competent authority that handled the IPR cases, details on the transfer of cases to criminal authorities, whether rights holders in specific cases were foreign or Chinese and what types of products were involved. U.S. trade officials hope the information will be useful in determining the problems with China's IPR enforcement regime so that the two countries can work cooperatively to resolve these trade issues.

To view the U.S. Trade Representative's request letter to China, visit, http://www.ustr.gov/ assets/Document_Library/ Reports_Publications/2005/ asset_upload_file115_8232.pdf.