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United States Trade Representative Mickey Kantor today announced decisions and initiated actions in two important areas: Special 301 -- protection of intellectual property rights -- and Title VII/discrimination in foreign government procurement.

Today's decisions reflect the Administration's continued resolve to take strong measures to ensure comparable market access and intellectual property protection for U.S. products and to promote more open foreign procurement practices -- measures which are key to this Administration's policy of opening markets and creating opportunities for U.S. companies and jobs for U.S. workers.

In announcing this year's results, Ambassador Kantor called Title VII "a valuable tool in breaking down discriminatory government procurement practices around the world." During this Administration alone, Title VII has been used to achieve a number of agreements, including:

This year, no new identifications were made, but several areas deserving special attention as issues of substantial concern were highlighted in this year's report to Congress. These issues are:


 * The issue of corruption in foreign procurement and lack of transparency in procurement practices is an important one. Kantor said, "This Administration is determined to increase public awareness of these problems and push initiatives to clean up government procurement practices around the world. Efforts to eliminate corruption in government procurement and increase transparency will not only eliminate persistent international trade barriers, but will also benefit foreign governments' standing with their domestic constituencies and increase their efficiency."

The United States has taken the lead in promoting international disciplines against corruption, including through work in the OECD and the Summit of the Americas (SOA).