Cablegate: Czech Republic: Special 301 Out-of-Cycle Review

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ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 221538Z JAN 08
FM AMEMBASSY PRAGUE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 9977
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC

UNCLAS PRAGUE 000033

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

STATE FOR EUR/NCE AND EB/IPE JBOGER
STATE PASS USTR FOR JCHOE-GROVES AND WMOORE
COMMERCE FOR 4232/ITA/MAC/MROGERS
COMMERCE PASS USPTO

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KIPR ETRD ECON PGOV EZ
SUBJECT: CZECH REPUBLIC: SPECIAL 301 OUT-OF-CYCLE REVIEW
DEMARCHE DELIVERED

REF: STATE 1988

1. (SBU) The Ambassador contacted Deputy Prime Minister
Vondra by phone January 22 to inform the USG decision to
place the Czech Republic on the Special 301 Watch List.
Vondra was aware of the issue and did not seem surprised by
the news, although it was clear he was not seized with the
issue, which all government ministers regard as Minister of
Industry and Trade Martin Riman's problem to fix. We got the
same impression from the MFA Political Director (Under
Secretary-equivalent) Martin Povejsil when we informed him in

SIPDIS
person January 21.

2. (SBU) MIT Director General of the EU Department Ladislava
Votavova, who heads the Czech inter-ministerial committee on
IPR issues, received the news January 22 and said that
elevation to the Watch List is an appropriate response and
one step in the process toward a "better result." She hopes
the OCR decision will motivate her government to give more
attention to IPR issues, and urged the Embassy to continue to
engage Deputy Minister Martin Tlapa and Minister Martin
Riman. Votavova informed that she would be leaving her
position at the end of January; Her successor has not yet
been named.

3 . (SBU) COMMENT: Nobody was surprised about the Watch List
designation, and our working-level contacts are hopeful that
the designation will help capture higher-level attention to
the problem. Votavova told us privately that she was
criticized for inviting the Embassy and industry to attend
the committee meetings. Therefore, the future relationship
between the Embassy and the inter-ministerial IPR committee
will depend largely on Votavova's unnamed successor.
Votavova has been our greatest ally within the Czech
government on the IPR issue and her departure is a definite
loss. However, the real challenge in moving the IPR issue
forward is to get the Czech government's attention at the
political level. Post will use the Watch List designation,
the April Special 301 review, and the Czech EU Presidency in
2009 to press MIT leadership to move beyond their current
coordination role and take ownership of the fight against
piracy at the border markets. We will also continue to
engage other ministries to holding the MIT leadership
accountable for concrete action. END COMMENT.
Graber

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