USTR upgrade a big boost

THE US Trade Representative (USTR)’s upgrade of Thailand’s status to the Watch List (WL), from the previous Priority Watch List (PWL), of countries monitored for violation of intellectual property rights (IPRs) will boost the country’s international image, economy and foreign investors’ confidence, according to top government officials.
However, FTA Watch, a non-government organisation, warned that there could be long-term negative consequences on domestic drug prices and the agricultural sector.
Government Spokesman Lt-General Sansern Kaewkamnerd said Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha was happy that the USTR had recognised Thailand’s efforts in combating violation of IPRs.
The upgrade followed the US’s out-of-cycle review for Thailand, which had been on the PWL for more than a decade. It was also attributed to the government’s proactive measures, including amendments to several laws to strengthen the legal framework against the violation of IPRs, and an increase in the number of inspectors for patents and copyrights to speed up the registration process.
In addition, the government has increased the budget for the Department of Intellectual Property Rights’ procurement of equipment and information technology systems while ordering law-enforcement authorities – including police, military, Department of Special Investigation, the Anti-Money Laundering Organisation and Customs Department – to join forces to combat violations
Usually, the USTR announces its annual report on the status of foreign countries in April, but it decided to conduct a special review on Thailand.
Commerce Minister Sonthirat Sonthi-Jirawong said the USTR’s upgrade of Thailand’s status under Section Special 301 of the US trade law shows that Thailand’s IPR protection has achieved progress, especially in terms of suppressing illegal sales of counterfeit products.
Fake products, which are copycats of branded items, have disappeared from the domestic market in many areas since July this year. The Commerce Ministry has also opened operational centres to crack down on sales of counterfeit goods inside five major shopping centres and other locations in Thailand: MBK shopping centre and Chatuchak Sunday Market in Bangkok, Talad Rong Kua in Sa Kaew province, and Patong beach and Karon beach in Phuket province.
In addition, the USTR has recognised the Thai government’s efforts to ease concerns in the US private sector regarding the faster process to register patents and trademarks so that foreign companies have full legal protection on their intellectual property.
Tariff privileges
Thailand has also joined an international convention to facilitate the cross-border registration of trademarks and other intellectual property in multiple member countries. The Thai Food and Drug Administration has also boosted transparency in registration of regulated products with more public hearings with all stakeholders.
Sonthirat said the status upgrade to the WL would boost Thailand’s international image and foreign investors’ confidence, especially concerning the use of high technology and innovation.
According to the commerce minister, the upgrade will also positively affect the US’s granting of tariff privileges under the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) for Thai exports to the US market.
As a result, the Thai economy, foreign investment in Thailand and international trade will benefit from the status upgrade to WL.
Meanwhile, Kannikar Kijtiwatchakul, coordinator of FTA Watch, expressed concern that the Thai government might have made a secret deal with the US for this status upgrade by trading long-term benefits of the people to win acceptance from the US.
“From now on we have to keep a very close watch on every law amendment and new legislation, as the government may come out with a new patent registration policy, which will provide huge benefits for big companies, but will lead to very negative impacts on the people,” Kannikar said.
She cautioned that the government might approve the “ever-greening patent”, which allows pharmaceutical companies to constantly renew their drug patents and results in more expensive medicines and a longer monopoly enjoyed by big multinational drug companies.
“If such a policy is implemented, we expect the government will have to bear an additional Bt8 billion on medicine expenditure, because of more expensive drugs, which will hurt many people,” she warned.
Kannikar also expressed concern that the effort to monopolise the market through the patent registration policy may widen into the agricultural sector via seed patents. This would make farmers unable to keep seeds for the next farming season, forcing them to buy new seeds from big agricultural companies every year.