The Ministry of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries is reporting that Jamaica has been removed from the United States Trade Representative watch list, which the country has been on for decades.

It says this follows the tabling of the Patents and Designs Bill by Portfolio Minister, Audley Shaw, which led to the passage in January of the Patents and Designs Act to replace the country’s outdated patent and industrial designs regime.

The new bill was developed in an effort to modernise Jamaica’s patent and industrial designs regime and to implement its international obligations.

Jamaica’s removal was disclosed by the Office of the United States Trade Representative in Washington on April 29 in its annual Special 301 Report on the adequacy and effectiveness of trading partners’ protection of intellectual property rights and the findings of its Review of Notorious Markets for Counterfeiting and Piracy.

The Special 301 Report identifies trading partners that do not adequately or effectively protect and enforce intellectual property rights or otherwise deny market access to US innovators and creators that rely on protection of their IP rights.

Trading partners that currently present the most significant concerns regarding IP rights are placed on the Priority Watch List or Watch List.

The US agency identified 33 countries for these lists in the Special 301 Report.

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/news/20200504/jamaica-removed-us-trade-representative-watch-list