RP assails U.S. import barrier<\/p>\n
MANILA (AFP): The United States has unfairly banned imports of
\nshrimps and prawns from the Philippines for violating
\nenvironmental standards on harvesting them, a trade official said
\nhere.<\/p>\n
Trade Undersecretary Cesar Bautista said the Philippines had
\nbeen included in a list of Association of Southeast Asian Nation
\n(ASEAN) members banned from exporting shrimps and prawns to the
\nUnited States because their harvesting methods also kill
\nendangered sea-turtles.<\/p>\n
Bautista said the Philippines should not be covered by the ban
\nsince the its shrimps and prawns were raised in aquaculture
\nfarms, not harvested from the sea.<\/p>\n
He noted that Brunei and Indonesia had already been exempted
\nfrom the ban because they did not use fishing methods that kill
\nsea-turtles and added that the Philippines should also be
\nexempted \"since in the first place, the rule does not apply to
\nus.\"<\/p>\n
Bautista said he had raised the concern in recent meetings
\nwith U.S. trade officials in Washington.<\/p>\n
Philippine exports of shrimps and prawns to the United States
\nhit US$20 million last year.<\/p>\n
Bautista also said the Philippines could finally be removed
\nfrom the U.S. watchlist of countries that do not adequately
\nenforce intellectual property rights (IPR) if the Philippine
\ncongress were to pass a stronger copyright law.<\/p>\n
He told reporters that the International Intellectual Property
\nAlliance, a U.S. group that works for IPR enforcement, said U.S.
\ncompanies lost at least $112 million from IPR violations in the
\nPhilippines last year.<\/p>\n
This included $70 million from piracy of books, $26 million
\nfrom movies and $3 million from audio recordings.<\/p>\n
The Philippines was downgraded last year from the U.S.
\n\"priority watchlist\" of IPR violators who faced possible trade
\nsanctions but it still remains on the secondary watchlist.<\/p>\n
ASEAN members are Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the
\nPhilippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/rp-assails-us-import-barrier-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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