protection at trade fairs, and its draft rules to transfer cases from administrative to criminal authorities. U.S. industry commented extensively on China's draft regulations for the protection of copyrights on information networks. However, the United States also notes that China provided no opportunity to comment on, e.g., the customs transfer rules or the rules to strengthen crackdowns on trademark infringement crimes.
The United States has been urging China to adopt and regularize transparency requirements across all government agencies, including a mandatory public notice and comment requirement and a requirement that all trade-related measures be published in a single official journal. At the April 11, 2006 JCCT meeting, China announced that the General Office of the State Council had issued a notice requiring that all laws, regulations and other measures of all government ministries and agencies at all levels pertaining to or affecting trade in goods, services, TRIPS or the control of foreign exchange shall be published in a single official journal, i.e., the China Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation Gazette, issued by the Ministry of Commerce. The United States welcomes this announcement and looks forward to its strict implementation. In light of its WTO obligations, it is still important for China to allow public notice and a reasonable opportunity for comment before implementing any trade-related measure.
Patent and Data Protection Developments
While China's patent laws are largely compliant with the TRIPS Agreement, right holders have noted that the narrow scope of patentable subject matter under Chinese law makes patents for transgenic plants and animals virtually unobtainable. A lack of clarity in laws involving generic drug patent infringement is contributing to the continued growth of counterfeit drugs, with corresponding health and safety problems.
In addition, the United States has concerns about the extent to which China provides meaningful protection against unfair commercial use of undisclosed test and other data submitted by pharmaceutical companies seeking marketing approval for their products.
