Belarus and Bulgaria Added to US Trade Representative’s Watch List for Intellectual Property Rights Compliance

The Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) has added Belarus and Bulgaria to its watch list for compliance with intellectual property rights, Reuters and BTA reported.

Minsk was added to the list because of a new law legalizing the unauthorized use of copyrighted works by countries that have imposed sanctions on Belarus for its role in supporting the Russian-led war in Ukraine. The suspension of the review of Ukraine’s practices in the field of intellectual property protection, announced last year, due to Russia’s invasion of its southern neighbor, which began in February 2022, is also being extended.

However, the same report added Bulgaria, a US NATO ally, to the watch list because Sofia had not sufficiently addressed shortcomings in its investigation of online piracy cases. Last year, the USTR announced that it would conduct a review of our country for this very reason.

The report now includes 29 countries on the watch or priority watch list for deficiencies and violations of intellectual property rights. This year’s priority list includes China, Chile, Argentina, India, Indonesia, Russia and Venezuela. Our country is in the one with a lower category of danger, which also includes countries such as Canada.