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Ambassador Michael Kantor, the United States Trade Representative, announced today the Administration's decision with respect to this year's required review under the so-called "special 301" provisions of the Trade Act of 1974 (Trade Act).

This decision reflects the progress made in the course of 1993 in resolving many longstanding problems and increasing the general level of protection for U.S. intellectual property interests.

The decision announced by Ambassador Kantor includes the following specific actions:


 * if satisfactory progress is not reached to address U.S. concerns with Argentina, China and India by June 30, these countries will be designated as "priority foreign countries" and investigations will be initiated immediately consistent with section 302 of the Trade Act;


 * placing six countries on the "priority watch list:" the European Union, Japan, Korea, Saudi Arabia, Thailand and Turkey;


 * placing 18 countries on the "watch list" and conducting "out-of-cycle" reviews of Egypt, EI Salvador, Greece and the United Arab Emirates;


 * making special mention of Brazil, Canada, Germany, Honduras, Israel, Panama, Paraguay, Russia and Singapore.

The Administration reiterates its commitment to ensure full and effective implementation of the "special 301" provisions of the Trade Act. To that end, it will engage problem countries in a dialogue aimed at not only resolving the problems that brought about their inclusion on the "special 301" lists, but also seeking an improvement in the overall level of intellectual property protection. The United States strongly encourages all countries to expedite implementation of the provisions of the GATT TRIPS agreement.