Tag Archives: criminal law

U.S. says China has fallen short on ‘Phase 1’ intellectual property commitments

By David Lawder

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -China has fallen short on its commitments to protect American intellectual property in the ‘Phase 1’ U.S.-China trade deal signed last year, the Biden administration’s trade office said on Friday.

The U.S. Trade Representative’s “Special 301” report on intellectual property said that China had made amended its Patent Law, Copyright Law and Criminal Law last year and published several draft regulatory measures on IP.

“However, these steps toward reform require effective implementation and fall short of the full range of fundamental changes needed to improve the IP landscape in China,” USTR said.

The commitments were part of the sweeping deal between former president Donald Trump’s administration and Beijing, which included regulatory changes on agricultural biotechnology and commitments to purchase some $200 billion in U.S. exports over two years.

The USTR report said that there remained uncertainty about the effectiveness of Chinese legal changes, while long-standing problems with trademarks and counterfeiting persist. It also said that Chinese officials have made statements that intellectual property rights should be linked to national security and the need to develop “indigenous” innovation.

“Such statements and measures raise concerns about requiring and pressuring technology transfer and about whether IP protection and enforcement will apply fairly to foreign right holders in China,” USTR said.

China was kept on a “priority watch list” for intellectual property rights enforcement problems, along with Argentina, Chile, India, Indonesia, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Ukraine and Venezuela.

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai told senators earlier this week that her office has not yet scheduled a high-level consultation with China, required twice a year, but would work to hold China to its Phase 1 commitments, including goods purchases.

“We’re continuing to engage with China to make sure that the commitments are implemented,” another USTR official told reporters on Friday.

Asked about a waiver of vaccine intellectual property rights proposed by some World Trade Organization countries, the official said the Biden administration was working with global partners, including WTO members, “to explore pragmatic and effective steps to surge production and equitable distribution of vaccines.”

(Reporting by David Lawder, Editing by William Maclean)

China warns pig trade against African swine fever cover-ups as Taiwan concerns grow

Pork for sale is seen at a market in Beijing, China December 26, 2018. Picture taken December 26, 2018. REUTERS/Jason Lee

BEIJING/TAIPEI (Reuters) – China has warned the country’s pork industry that covering up cases of African swine fever is a crime, days after a dead pig was found on a Taiwanese beach prompting Taipei to claim Beijing was not sharing accurate information on the disease.

China’s animal husbandry and veterinary affairs bureau is stepping up investigation and punishment of illegal activity in the pig industry, said a statement published on the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs website on Friday.

Failing to report deaths and privately slaughtering and selling sick or dead pigs would be pursued under criminal law, it said, and compensation of 1,200 yuan ($175) for each pig culled was sufficient incentive for farmers to report the disease.

In the worst epidemic of the disease ever seen, China has confirmed about 100 cases of African swine fever across 23 provinces since August last year. The disease, for which there is neither cure nor vaccine, is deadly to pigs but does not harm people.

But many experts believe it is even worse than has been reported, and Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen urged Beijing last month to “not conceal” information about the disease.

Tsai raised the issue again in a New Year’s speech after a dead pig was found on a beach on Taiwan’s Kinmen island, a half-hour ferry ride from the east coast of China. The pig has since been confirmed to have the African swine fever virus, while another dead pig was found on a nearby island on Friday, Taiwan’s official Central News Agency reported.

“During our recent efforts to prevent an African swine fever epidemic, China’s government has never followed the relevant agreements and provided Taiwan with accurate, real-time reports about the epidemic situation,” she said.

China has repeatedly said that the disease has been effectively dealt with and is under control. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs did not immediately respond to a fax seeking comment on Friday.

The dead animals found on the Taiwanese islands have stoked fears that Taiwan’s pigs could soon become infected with the disease.

Taiwan’s herd of 5.39 million pigs is tiny compared with China’s 700 million, but pork is the most popular meat in both places and domestic production in Taiwan reduces its need for imports of the staple meat.

(Reporting by Dominique Patton in BEIJING and Yi-Mou Lee in TAIPEI; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell)