ISRAEL

The Knesset enacted TRIPS omnibus legislation in December 1999 covering a number of areas, including patents, trademarks and copyright. In the last six months, the Government of Israel has allocated additional resources, including hiring new policemen for intellectual property enforcement and funding new prosecutors, to combat widespread copyright infringement. However, we remain very concerned about the unacceptably high rate of piracy of all forms of optical media in Israel. Israel remains a key distribution hub in a multi-country network (including Eastern Europe and Russia) for pirated optical media product, much of which is still manufactured in Israel. We urge the Government of Israel to expedite its ongoing review of CD plant controls, including mandatory use of source identification codes, and to implement quickly effective controls. Other concerns with Israel's intellectual property regime include possible TRIPS deficiencies such as failure to protect adequately confidential test data and to provide criminal penalties for unauthorized end-user copying of computer software, and continued concerns about possible adoption of amendments to the Pharmacists Law which would weaken patent protection for pharmaceuticals and permit the unfair commercial use of test data. We will continue to consult informally with the Government of Israel in the coming months in an effort to encourage it to resolve outstanding TRIPS compliance concerns as soon as possible. Should this effort not be successful, we will review other options for addressing our concerns.