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 clothing, toy and sporting good sectors remains common. Copyright piracy also remains rampant, and COMANPI enforcement has been minimal. On the patent side, Venezuela and its Andean partners need to complete the revisions to Andean Decision 344 to bring it into conformity with the TRIPS Agreement. We will continue to consult informally with Andean Community governments in an effort to encourage them to resolve the outstanding TRIPS compliance concerns as soon as possible in the coming months.


 * The Government is still in the formative stages of drafting, enacting and enforcing intellectual property laws. Copyright piracy is the most pressing problem, though there is also some unchecked trademark counterfeiting. Vietnam provides protection for pharmaceutical and agricultural chemical products, but its law is not fully consistent with international standards. On December 27, 1998, the bilateral copyright agreement between the United States and Vietnam entered into force, following the issuance of implementing regulations by Vietnam. The agreement grants U.S. works copyright protection in Vietnam for the first time. We look to the Government of Vietnam to enforce its new copyright regime vigorously to reduce piracy levels measurably, and to take steps to ensure that all government offices use only legitimate software. We also expect the Government of Vietnam to address intellectual property rights issues in the contexts of negotiations on a bilateral trade agreement and its accession to the WTO.

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