PM Abhisit says not surprised at maintaining on U.S. watch list

Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said Saturday he is not surprised that the United States has maintained Thailand on its Priority Watch List (PWL) following Thailand's failure to significantly make significant improvement on intellectual property rights (IPR) protection, Thai media reported.

"It's within our earlier expectations," Thai News Agency quoted Abhisit as saying, adding that Washington has concern for Thailand's intellectual property violation, while U.S made the assessment over a relatively short period of time.

This remark came after a U.S. decision on Thursday, which kept Thailand on its special watch list of nations that fail to crack down on copyright and patent violations.

Because of the time constraints, Abhisit said, the U.S. opted to maintain Thailand's trade status as it was. Consequently the Thai government must work harder to persuade Washington to upgrade its status.

Thailand will ensure that intellectual property law is applied and that violations are prosecuted, the prime minister said, denying the need to issue new laws as there are already several laws governing the issue.

His remarks somewhat contradict with those earlier by Deputy Commerce Minister Alongkorn Ponlaboot, who said the ministry has directed the Intellectual Property Department to study drafting legislation to cover penalties against buyers, users and possessors of products that violate copyrights or patents.

The American trade office on Thursday said 12 of its trading partners on the PWL, including Thailand, did not provide an adequate level of IPR protection or enforcement, or market access for those relying on intellectual property protection.

The countries will be the subject of "intense engagement" through bilateral discussions in the coming year, said the annual report of the U.S. trade representative.