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Romania, recognized as trusted partner for US from intellectual property protection perspective
Romania was recognized as a trustworthy partner for the United States of America from the point of view of intellectual property protection for the first time in 25 years, informs, on Thursday, a press release of the Executive.
The United States Trade Representative (USTR), the US government agency that deals with international trade relations, published the Special Report 301 for 2022, in which, for the first time in over 25 years, Romania is removed from the Watch List, thus formally recognizing that Romania has the capacity to overcome barriers in what regards protection of intellectual property rights.
Romania was placed on the watchlist for the first time in 1995, and after three years of observation, was placed on the list, where it was constantly present from 1999 to 2021, being the only EU member-state on it.
Thus, according to the USTR announcement, among the reasons for the positive development were the appointing of the first national coordinator in the domain of intellectual property, Sorin Costreie, advisor to the PM; the establishment of a new unit within the Directorate for Investigating Economic Crime of the Romanian Police General Inspectorate, specialized in cases of online piracy; allotting additional officers for intellectual property investigations and the resumption of organizing by the Service to coordinate the activity of the Public Ministry in the realm of intellectual property laws within the Prosecutors' Office attached to the High Court of Cassation and Justice of meetings of the Working Group on matters of intellectual property rights; a public-private partnership created as a support structure for preventing and combating infringements of intellectual property rights.