U.S., China sign major pacts on aviation services, IPR enforcement

U.S., China sign major pacts on aviation services, IPR enforcement The United States and China reached agreement Wednesday to amend their civil aviation agreement and significantly expand the number of allowable cargo and passenger flights to meet rising demand for travel and trade between the two nations.
   A key component of the pact for shippers is China’s agreement to lift all government-imposed limits on the number of cargo flights and cargo carriers serving the two countries by 2011. In addition to opening the market for cargo carriers, the deal calls for passenger flights to double by 2012, the Department of Transportation said.
   The agreement is one of several announcements, including cooperation on combating counterfeit crime, arising from the second Strategic Economic Dialogue held between high-level officials in Washington this week to promote economic development.
   Building on the existing bilateral air services agreement, the new deal will allow 13 new daily flights operated by U.S. carriers to and from China phased in over five years for a total of 23 flights per day. Under the current agreement, U.S. airlines can only operate 10 daily flights into Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.
   Additionally, the pact will allow the United States to increase from six to nine the number of designated U.S. passenger carriers that may operate in China, one in 2007 and two in 2009, and will provide nearly unlimited access to China for U.S. cargo carriers.
   The two countries committed to resume negotiations in 2010 to establish a timetable for full liberalization of the bilateral aviation market.
   The previous air services agreement, in place since mid-2004, boosted the number of U.S. airlines that can serve China from four to nine and permitted an almost five-fold increase in weekly flights between the two countries over six years. The pact also increased business freedom for U.S. carriers, including the right for U.S. cargo airlines to establish hubs in China.
   The bilateral economic talks also produced progress in areas such as counterfeit goods, U.S. exports, opening China’s financial sector, energy and the environment, according to the Department of Treasury, which hosted the talks.
   The two sides signed an agreement to strengthen the enforcement of intellectual property rights laws. The deal establishes a framework for both countries to exchange information on seizures of counterfeit goods, experiences with counterfeit goods, enforcement practices, and increased dialogue between both customs services on improving enforcement of counterfeit and pirated goods.
   Under the memorandum, signed by Ralph Basham, commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and Chinese Minister of Customs Mu Xinsheng, the two customs agencies pledged to increase visits to each other’s offices and ports by both policy and operational staff engaged in intellectual property rights enforcement.
   Data on significant fake goods or copyright seizures will be shared each quarter to track violators and conduct enforcement actions. The country receiving information will have 90 days to report to the providing country on enforcement actions resulting from this disclose of information, according to a CBP news release.
   U.S. and Chinese Customs officials also promised to exchange counterfeit and pirated goods seizure statistics every six months for goods originating in or destined for the other country. The statistics will describe the number of seizures, quantity and value of goods, description and/or Harmonized Tariff Schedule classification of the commodities, mode of transportation and the main ports of import and export for the goods.
   The agreement follows several recent U.S. complaints to the World Trade Organization about China’s lack of enforcement of intellectual property rights protection laws.
   Also, the Export-Import Bank of the United States and its Chinese counterpart signed a memorandum of understanding to provide loan guarantees for the export of large-scale capital goods, such as aircraft and engines, from the United States to China.
      Officials also agreed to work together to reduce and eliminate trade barriers to environmental goods and services as part of the World Trade Organization’s Doha round of negotiations and to develop technologies for clean coal and mining carbon capture to reduce greenhouse gases.