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occurrence in the Philippines. The United States, therefore, strongly urges the Philippine government to adopt an effective regulatory system in order to deter digital piracy before the problem takes root, as it has elsewhere in the region.
Poland: The Government of Poland has not made sufficient progress to address the lack of adequate and effective protection for intellectual property. Pirated optical media (CDs, DVDs, CD-ROMS) are widespread in the Polish market, and production and distribution of pirated optical disc media appear to be a growing problem. Industry estimates that losses to copyright piracy increased by $26 million between 1997 and 1998. Polish copyright law does not appear to provide a clear point of attachment for foreign sound recordings, the absence of which would violate its existing international obligations. Furthermore, there is no protection for pre-1974 sound recordings, as required by the TRIPS Agreement. With regard to patents, Polish law does not conform to TRIPS requirements on protection for confidential test data. We look to Poland to address these shortcomings quickly and to strengthen enforcement generally. We will conduct an out-of-cycle review in December 1999 to evaluate Poland's progress in these areas and in meeting its TRIPS obligations which become effective January 1, 2000.
Qatar: has not made sufficient progress to address the lack of adequate and effective protection for intellectual property rights since last year's review and will remain on the Special 301 Watch List. Qatar has failed to adopt TRIPS consistent legislation in the area of copyright or patents. We remain particularly concerned about the lack of patent protection for pharmaceutical products. We recognize progress made in the last year by Qatar to reduce copyright piracy, except in the area of business software where piracy rates remain unacceptably high. We call on Qatar to legalize software used by government agencies, improve copyright enforcement, and to take concrete steps to fully meet its TRIPS obligations prior to the January 1, 2000 deadline.
Romania: The Government of Romania has not made sufficient progress in the protection of copyrights and other intellectual property since last year's review, and is being elevated to the Watch List. Romania has made little progress over several years to improve the enforcement of intellectual property rights. Rates of piracy of sound recordings, audiovisual works, television and computer programs have all increased. U.S. pharmaceutical patent owners have been adversely affected by inadequate protection of patents and proprietary data. The United States urges the Romanian Government to address these deficiencies and use the time remaining prior to the deadline of January 1, 2000 to bring itself into full compliance with the obligations of the TRIPS Agreement.
Saudi Arabia: Saudi Arabia's laws, regulations, and procedures fall short of international standards in a number of key areas. While the Saudi Government has embarked on a revision of its intellectual property laws as part of its WTO accession, the most significant need is for better enforcement of its laws. There was, however, some improvement in enforcement in 1998, particularly with regard to software, audio materials, and videos. However, software piracy remains a problem and the Government needs to control the unauthorized use of software in its offices. We urge the Government of Saudi Arabia to bring its IPR regime into compliance with TRIPS as part of its WTO accession process, greatly improve the operation of its patent office so that patents are issued, publicize its enforcement activities in order to provide a greater deterrent effect, and adopt a directive prohibiting the illegal use of software in government agencies.
