London - June 6, 2000
IFPI, the organization representing the international
recording industry, welcomed as a crucial breakthrough the announcement
yesterday of an action plan agreed between President Clinton and President
Leonid Kuchma of Ukraine to tackle head-on the CD piracy problem in the
country.
The Ukraine Government said it had taken immediate steps, suspending
production at five CD plants known to produce pirate discs. The plants will
be strictly supervised in future to ensure they only engage in authorized
production.
The government has also committed to enforcement and legislative initiatives
including the protection of all recordings released within the past 50
years, strengthening criminal and civil penalties for copyright violation,
and regulation of the raw materials used in the manufacture of optical
discs.
In order to avoid possible US trade sanctions, the agreed plan of action is
due to be fully implemented by November 1, 2000. IFPI will be monitoring
the situation on behalf of the worldwide recording industry and RIAA will
co-ordinate with IFPI and the US Government to ensure Ukraine meets its
obligations.
Agreement to the plan comes after negotiations started in May between Prime
Minister Viktor Yushenko and US Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky.
At the end of last month, a delegation from IFPI and its US affiliate RIAA
met with senior government officials in Kiev to call for an immediate end to
the manufacturing and export of pirate optical discs by Ukraine.
IFPI Chairman and CEO Berman said, "This is a very encouraging first step by
the Ukraine Government towards solving one of the world's most serious
optical disc piracy problems."
Ukraine is one of the predominant producers of pirate optical discs in the
world, where pirates are exploiting weaknesses in the intellectual property
regime. Ukrainian CD plants have an estimated joint capacity to produce 70
million discs annually, nearly all for export. The losses to the music
industry as a result of Ukrainian piracy are estimated at over 200 million
in 1999.
Under the plan, the Government of Ukraine has agreed to:
- Take immediate steps to adopt legislation to provide protection to all
foreign sound recordings released in the past fifty years.
- Adopt regulations requiring the licensing of optical disc
manufacturing and distribution plants and the use of SID (source
identification) codes.
- Adopt a comprehensive regulatory structure for the import and export
of raw materials and equipment used in the manufacture of optical
discs.
- Amend the penal code to provide strong penalties, including criminal
penalties with imprisonment for violation of copyright laws, in particular
of the rights of producers of sound recordings.