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during the course of the year to ensure that pressure is maintained on these countries for progress. Other countries on the priority watch list are the European Union, India and Korea.
Kantor stated: "I look for and expect continued progress by all countries in meeting our concerns. This includes raising the level of intellectual property protection at least to TRIPs standards as quickly as possible. However, in the coming months I will not hesitate to designate as a priority foreign country any country where such a designation is warranted."
Kantor further announced that 24 countries would be placed on the "watch list," and that "out-of-cycle" reviews would be conducted with four of these countries -- Argentina, the United Arab Emirates, Indonesia and South Africa.
Kantor also noted growing concerns about IPR problems in five countries and highlighted developments in, and expectations for progress in six countries.
Details of Ambassador Kantor's special 301 decisions are provided in the attached Fact Sheet.
