DUSHANBE, April 29, 2019, Asia-Plus – According to the Special 301 Report , Tajikistan has been removed from the Intellectual Property (IP) Watch List of the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR).

According to the 2016 Special 301 Report,  Tajikistan is removed from the Watch List in 2016 in recognition of Tajikistan’s efforts to improve intellectual property rights (IPR) protection and enforcement, including providing ex officio authority to customs authorities; acceding to international IPR treaties that contain obligations to strengthen IPR protection and enforcement (e.g., the Singapore Treaty on the Law of Trademarks, the Hague Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Industrial Designs, the Protocol Relating to the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks (Madrid Protocol), WIPO Copyright Treaty (WCT) and WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty (WPPT)); and adopting amendments to provide a system for protecting against the unfair commercial use, as well as unauthorized disclosure, of undisclosed test or other data generated to obtain marketing approval for pharmaceutical and agricultural chemical products.

The Out-of-Cycle Review (OCR) of Tajikistan announced in 2015 will remain open through the fall of 2016 to reinforce the positive steps Tajikistan has taken to strengthen IPR.

In 2016, USTR encourages Tajikistan to focus efforts to complete the benchmark set out in the OCR by formalizing a presidential-level decree, law, or regulation mandating government use of licensed software by the fall of 2016.  Tajikistan has established a working group, headed by the First Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Trade, to oversee this process.  If Tajikistan is unable to meet the fall 2016 deadline, USTR may reconsider Tajikistan’s Special 301 status.

USTR may conduct additional OCRs of other trading partners as circumstances warrant, or as requested by the trading partner.

The Special 301 Report is prepared annually by the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) under Section 301 as amended of the Trade Act of 1974.  The reports identify trade barriers to U.S. companies and products due to the intellectual property laws, such as copyright, patents and trademarks, in other countries. Each year the USTR must identify countries which do not provide “adequate and effective” protection of intellectual property rights or “fair and equitable market access to United States persons that rely upon intellectual property rights.”  Under the Special 301 provisions amended into Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 by section 1303 of the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988, the USTR must also undertake annual surveys of foreign countries'' intellectual property laws and policies. The Special 301 Report was first published in 1989.

By statute, the annual report must identify a list of "Priority Foreign Countries", those countries judged to have inadequate intellectual property laws; these countries may be subject to sanctions. In addition, the report contains a "Priority Watch List" and a "Watch List", containing countries whose intellectual property regimes are deemed of concern.