Philippines vows to continue implementing best practices on IPR

The Philippine government will continue to adopt the best practices to ensure that it would no longer be included in the United States' watch list of countries with intellectual property rights (IPR) issues, a senior government official said Saturday.

Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail made the remarks after the Philippines, for the second consecutive year, stayed out of the U.S. Trade Representative's Special 301 Report of those countries tagged with IPR problems.

"The Special 301 Report mentions a lot of best practices coming out of the Philippines, and of course the plan is to continue adopting these best practices when it comes to intellectual property rights," she said in an interview over a state-run radio station.

The report cited the Philippine administrative reforms that have resulted in streamlined procedures, enhanced inter-agency cooperation, and more enforcement action including increased seizure of pirated and counterfeit goods, she said.

The report, released in Washington D.C. on Thursday, covered 72 trading partners, 37 of whom were on the watch list.

According to the report, the Philippines was first tagged in 1989 and was on the watch list since 1994 but was removed from the list last year, with the U.S. Trade Representative citing improved Philippine government commitment to protect IPR. Endi