TURKMENISTAN: 2006 SPECIAL 301 REVIEW

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ASHGABAT 000207

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

STATE FOR SCA/CEN (PERRY),EB/IPE (CLACROSSE),INL
(HOOKER)
DEPT PASS TO USTR JCHOE-GROVES, DOC JBOGER
DOC PASS TO USPTO JURBAN, LOC STEPP

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KIPR BTIO ETRD ECON SNAR TX
SUBJECT: TURKMENISTAN: 2006 SPECIAL 301 REVIEW

Ref: State 014937


1. (U) The 2006 Special 301 review process was announced
to the Government of Turkmenistan via diplomatic note on
February 1. Post recommends keeping Turkmenistan on the
2006 Special 301 Watch List and suggests including the
following paragraph on Turkmenistan in the 2006 Special
301 report:


2. (U) Turkmenistan has been on the Watch List since
2000, and it will remain on the Watch List in 2006 due to
its lack of progress on IPR issues during the past year.
Turkmenistan has numerous remaining steps to take in
order to fulfill its IPR obligations under the 1993 U.S.-
Turkmenistan Trade Agreement. Specifically, Turkmenistan
is a member of neither the Berne Convention nor the
Geneva Phonograms Convention, and it has not yet signed
the WIPO Internet Treaties. Although the Civil and
Criminal Codes provide some degree of IPR protection and
punishment for copyright violations and the Civil Code
provides for counterfeited goods' confiscation by a court
decision, Turkmenistan has yet to adopt more explicit and
comprehensive administrative and civil procedures and
criminal penalties for IPR violations. Turkmenistan has
not adopted a separate Copyright Law and consequently
does not provide any protection to foreign sound
recordings or pre-existing works. IPR enforcement is
inadequate because the Customs Code does not provide ex
officio authority to seize suspected infringing material
at the border. There are no known civil exQte search
procedures. The United States urges Turkmenistan to join
appropriate international agreements and adopt the
national legal reforms that will bring Turkmenistan into
compliance with its obligations under the bilateral 1993
U.S.-Turkmenistan Agreement, and to undertake enforcement
activities that will help strengthen its IPR regime.

Training
--------------


3. (U) Post proposes IPR basic-concepts training for
GOTX officials dealing with IPR issues. The primary goal
of the training would be to improve the enforcement and
protection of intellectual property rights based on
existing legislation. The training would also highlight
deficient areas of compliance in Turkmenistan's copyright
laws.


4. (SBU) The project would build on previous USG-funded
efforts. Under the U.S.-Central Asia TIFA agreement, a
State Customs Service (SCS) representative from
Turkmenistan attended the WIPO-UN/ECE-WCO sub-regional
seminar on enforcement of intellectual property rights
and a TIFA working group meeting held in Almaty,
Kazakhstan in July 2005. The Customs official told
EmbOff that all law enforcement officers in Turkmenistan
need the conference information. A representative of
Turkmenistan's Interior Ministry attended a USPTO Global
Intellectual Property Academy on Enforcement of
Intellectual Property Rights from January 24-27, at USPTO
Headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia, and confirmed that
IPR training for Turkmenistani law enforcement officers
is essential to ensure proper IPR enforcement. After IPR
meetings in 2005 with officials in the Ministry of the
Interior (MVD) and the Ministry of Culture (MOC),coupled
with the SCS feedback, post is confident that there is a
lack of awareness in the government concerning IPR.
Three GOTX agencies have already expressed interest in
basic IPR training.


5. (SBU) The proposed training would 1) raise awareness
about IPR protection and violation among legislative and
law enforcement agencies to better understand relevant
international standards and allow more efficient
legislation and law enforcement activities; 2) develop
skills for police, customs, prosecutors and other
relevant law enforcement officials aimed at improving the
agencies' capacity to protect IPR: preventing
transshipments of pirated and counterfeit goods through a
cooperative training program. The project will include
the following activities: 1) Police, customs,
prosecutors, judicial officers and officials from
relevant legislative and law enforcement agencies will
attend a USPTO training course in the United States; 2)

ASHGABAT 00000207 002 OF 002


USG-funded conference defining international standards
for the protection of IPR and evaluating the potential
for local IPR protection organized in cooperation with
the MVD, the SCS, the Prosecutor General, the Ministry of
Justice, the Mejlis (Parliament),the MOC and other
relevant agencies, focused on basic IPR concepts, IPR
protection and enforcement, transshipment issues and
tools on how to prevent the transshipment of pirated and
counterfeit goods.


6. (U) Post welcomes the opportunity to discuss further
the training proposals. Embassy point of contact is
Pol/Econ Officer Carla Gonneville
(GonnevilleCA@state.gov).

JACOBSON