ID :
120061
Mon, 05/03/2010 - 16:00
Auther :
Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/120061
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Thailand disappointed with unchanged status on Washington’s Priority Watch List
BANGKOK, May 3 (TNA) -- Disappointed over an unchanged and an improvement from Washington’s Priority Watch List (PWL), announced recently by the US Trade Representative (USTR), the Commerce Ministry will ask the Royal Thai Police Bureau to more strictly enforcing and suppressing violations of US intellectual property rights in the kingdom, said Deputy Commerce Minister Alongkorn Ponlaboot.
The USTR in its report released on April 30, maintained Thailand on its PWL for 2010 which has been unchanged since 2007 but Mr Alongkorn said an OCR (Out-of-Cycle Review) on Thailand’s status could be conducted within the next six months.
Saying that he was disappointed over the ranking, Mr Alongkorn reiterated that the Thai government has attached importance on intellectual property rights protection and has continuously suppress violators in the past, the government, therefore, plans to write a letter to USTR and enquire about the country’s status which was kept unchanged for 2010.
For example, there was a total of 7,613 cases of property rights violations in 2009 while officials seized more than five million pieces of counterfeit products which was evidence that Thai authorities did not sit idly, he said.
Suppression carried out by the Commerce Ministry presently could have been slowed down due to persisting anti-government protest, said Mr Alongkorn, adding that his ministry would request the Royal Thai Police Bureau to accelerate on suppressing violators of intellectual property rights.
The US is one of Thailand’s principal trading partners. Two-way trade in 2009 was valued about Bt800 billion of which Thailand enjoyed more than Bt200 billion in trade surplus. (TNA)
The USTR in its report released on April 30, maintained Thailand on its PWL for 2010 which has been unchanged since 2007 but Mr Alongkorn said an OCR (Out-of-Cycle Review) on Thailand’s status could be conducted within the next six months.
Saying that he was disappointed over the ranking, Mr Alongkorn reiterated that the Thai government has attached importance on intellectual property rights protection and has continuously suppress violators in the past, the government, therefore, plans to write a letter to USTR and enquire about the country’s status which was kept unchanged for 2010.
For example, there was a total of 7,613 cases of property rights violations in 2009 while officials seized more than five million pieces of counterfeit products which was evidence that Thai authorities did not sit idly, he said.
Suppression carried out by the Commerce Ministry presently could have been slowed down due to persisting anti-government protest, said Mr Alongkorn, adding that his ministry would request the Royal Thai Police Bureau to accelerate on suppressing violators of intellectual property rights.
The US is one of Thailand’s principal trading partners. Two-way trade in 2009 was valued about Bt800 billion of which Thailand enjoyed more than Bt200 billion in trade surplus. (TNA)
