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  Intellectual Property Rights, identifies the improvements made by a range of countries. Significant developments are highlighted below.

 The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has recently provided a written commitment to take specific steps to assure the adequate and effective protection of patented products. These include specific commitments on TRIPS implementation, data protection and not providing marketing approval for unauthorized copies of patented products.

The Government of the Bahamas has recently provided written assurances that it would not permit transmission of copyrighted works over the Internet without the right holder's consent, and that it would negotiate with the U.S. Government on other issues of concern related to its copyright regime.

The Government of the Czech Republic passed a new Copyright Law on April 26 to meet its TRIPS Agreement obligations.

The Chinese Government launched the first phase of several special enforcement actions against illegal replication and smuggling of copyrighted audio and video products, including DVDs.

The Mexican Government amended its criminal code on May 17 to increase the level of penalties imposed for copyright offenses. The law has been enforced by the Mexican Government over the past year, resulting in criminal prosecutions, fines and jail terms being imposed on pirates. The U.S. and Mexico have re-initiated bilateral discussions under the IP working group.

The Russian State Customs Committee issued an executive decree on May 27 that designates a department within the customs department to fight piracy and provides that department with specialized tools and new rules to fight piracy.

The Paraguayan Government amended its criminal code making copyright crimes "public" actions, thereby allowing prosecutors to pursue copyright cases on their own initiative. Paraguay also issued a software decree requiring the use of legal software in all federal agencies.</li>

<li>Oman, Jordan, Liechtenstein, the Kyrgyz Republic, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, and Belgium joined the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works.</li>

<li>The Singapore Parliament passed the Copyright Act Amendment Bill of 1999 on August 17, thereby amending Singapore's copyright law.</li>

<li>To intensify efforts by the government of the Dominican Republic to combat piracy, a commission led by the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, which includes the legal </li> </ul>