Optical Media: Importation of Piratical Goods and Domestic Production

The copyright industries continued to confront very high piracy rates and losses in Romania during 2001 because of systemic inaction by government authorities, a pattern that has repeated itself over the past few years. Improvements made to the copyright and criminal laws in the mid1990s, combined with some cooperation from the police for some industries, still have not been enough to reduce rampant piracy. Overall, Romanian anti-piracy efforts remain woefully under funded and a low government priority. For several years, the Romanian government has pledged to commit anti-piracy resources to conduct effective enforcement, but those promises have gone unfulfilled. Besides a lack of resources, the absence of clear lines of authority within the government has hampered effective copyright enforcement. IIPA renews its call to the Romanian government to clearly define the organizational responsibilities for copyright enforcement to combat the high piracy rates, and especially the growth of pirate optical media now widely available in the Romanian markets. Romania must meet its long-overdue TRIPS Agreement enforcement obligations and take actions to deter piracy. In addition, Romania should implement the two WIPO digital treaties and correct omissions in the copyright law (in particular, the lack of civil ex parte search authority). The motion picture industry continues its opposition to the statemandated hologram sticker program for its products. As a result of these continuing problems, IIPA recommends that Romania remain on the Watch List in 2002.