Wen-Cheng, Huang
1. Introduction
2. The Background of Singapore
2.1 Government and Politics
2.2 Economic
3. Background of trade: Singaporean aspect
4. The Position of Singapore in U.S.-Singapore FTA as regard intellectual Property
4.1 General description
4.2 The Reform of IPR law in Singapore
5. Conclusion
1. Introduction
In November 2002, the United States and Singapore concluded the eleventh round of negotiations on the US-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (FTA). The U.S Trade Representative (USTR) is expected to notify Congress of agreement in late January 2003 . The negotiations started under Clinton Government in December 2000 and have continued under Bush Government. The FTA would be the first agreement the U.S. has signed with the Asian country. In the beginning, it was to be modeled after the U.S.-Jordan FTA and is to eliminate tariffs on all goods over time and cover substantially all service sectors. According to USTR, the FTA has broken new ground in electronic commerce, and it also includes what the USTR considers to be major advances in intellectual property protection .
2. The Background of Singapore
An island city-country located astride key shipping lane at the southern tip of Malay Peninsula, Singapore’s economic far exceeds its small size. Founded in 1819 by British East India Company, Singapore’s free trade strategy has been a major factor in its success . Singapore has been a major proponent of trade liberalization and supports the U.S. security role in Asia.
2.1 Government and Politics
Singapore’s parliamentary-type government is led by the prime minister and cabinet, who represent the majority party in Parliament. In August 2004, Lee Hsien Loong succeeded Goh Chok Tong as prime minister. Lee is the son of former prime minister Lee Kuan Yew, who stepped down in 1990 after 31 years in leading position, widely acknowledged as the architect of Singapore’s success as a state. Since the composition of Lee Hsien Loong’s cabinet, largely a reorganizing of officials in power, implies that he does not to plan to undertake any comprehensive changes as he takes office.
In the last elections in November 2001, the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) got a big elective victory, winning 82 of 84 seats in Parliament. The PAP has won all general elections since 1959, aided by a fragmented opposition, Singapore’s economic success, and electoral procedures that strongly benefit the PAP .
Although usually elected by comfortable majority in free and fair elections, the PAP uses the government’s extensive powers to place several high thresholds in the path of political opposing parties, in terms of the U.S. State Department’s 2003 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices. The PAP has maintained its political dominance in part by developing voter support through effective administration and its record in fostering prosperity, and in part by manipulating the electoral framework, intimidating organized political opposition, and circumscribing the bounds of legitimate political discourse and action . According to Amnesty International, the misuse of defamation suits by PAP leaders has contributed to a climate of self-censorship in Singapore .
Thus, due to the fact that mentioned above and considering the relation between Lee Hsien Loong and Lee Kuan Yew and the fact that the PAP has almost taken the all seats in Parliament since 1959, we can conclude that Singapore’s democracy is comparatively formal and it is in fact rules by Lee’s family.
2.2 Economic
By July 2004, the global economic slump had pushed Singapore into a technical recession. The continuing slump was further worsened by the 911 terrorist attacks on U.S.. Singapore’s export-oriented economy was particular hurt by the decline in demand for electronics, which accounts for two-thirds of its exports. However, in May 2004, exports, particular in electronics and pharmaceuticals, expanded by double growth rates. The economic was estimated to grow by 8.6% in 2004, but slow to 4.7% in 2005 .
As a trade-dependent economy, Singapore has changed its strategy as the Asia economic picture has shifted. Because Singapore’s economy depends heavily on external conditions, the U.S. recovery and China’s growth have sparked Singapore’s rebound. Singapore has taken steps to shore up its economic relations with other neighbors: deals with India to link its consumer market and technology industry with multinationals are flourishing, and free trade agreements (FTA) have been concluded with Japan and the United States, as well as pushing aggressively for passage of the ASEAN Free-Trade Area (AFTA). Such agreements are comparatively easy for Singapore to negotiate, because in addition to have a globalized economy, it has virtually no agricultural sector and its manufacturing is limited to specialized sectors .
3. Background of trade: Singaporean aspect
Singapore is America’s largest trading partner in Southeast Asia with two-way trade of 32.6 billion and a U.S. bilateral merchandise trade surplus in 2001 of $ 2.7 billion, up from a deficit of $ 1.4 billion in 2000. The United Sates generally runs a surplus in service trade with Singapore. In bilateral trade by sectors, it is interesting to note that the U.S. incurs deficits with Singapore in electrical machinery and organic chemicals.
Singapore has already 99% free trade. Only beer and alcoholic drinks are subject to import tariffs. The limitations are aimed at discouraging consumption for environmental and health purpose . Since Singapore’s goods trade is already virtually free, U.S. negotiators focused on removing Singaporean restrictions on a wide range of services, including high-technology sectors, such as engineering, medical, information technology .
4. The Position of Singapore in U.S.-Singapore FTA as regard intellectual Property
4.1 General description
With respect to intellectual property rights, Singapore has been on the Special 301 Watch List since 1995. This stems from U.S. concerns regarding the consistency of Singapore’s intellectual property rights (IPR) regime with the provisions of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) and the inadequacy of police enforcement against IPR piracy. The FTA includes tough penalties for piracy and counterfeiting, including criminal penalties for corporations that make pirated copies from legitimate products, assurances by Singapore that IPR laws will be enforced against traded goods, including trans-shipments, and mandates for damages under Singaporean law for IPR violations .
4.2 The Reform of IPR law in Singapore
As a result of Singapore’s FTA commitments, important changes were made to Trade Marks Act in 2004. The changes include a change in the definition of a trade mark, to remove the requirement of visual perceptibility as a precondition for registrability. The new definition opens the door potentially to registration of non-visual marks. A definition of well-known mark has also introduced. The amendments also include the addition of provisions relating to the dilution of marks.
Changes have been made to Singapore’s Patent Act, such as the introduction of limitations to parallel importation of patented pharmaceutical products.
The Copyright Act was also amended in 2004 to reflect FTA commitments, including the extension of the copyright term from 50 years to 70 years after the author’s death .
5. Conclusion
Singapore’s successfully economical achievement is due to the fact that its free trade strategy. As a city-state, it has virtually no agricultural sector and its manufacturing is limited to specialized sectors, unlike the other Asia countries with a long and colorful history of agriculture. Thus, in political aspect, Singapore does not have any political pressure form the interest group representing the farming. Also from the economic point of view, Singapore does not have any strong agricultural industries so that it is unnecessary for it to concern the impact form signing the FTA.
While, it is interesting to note that Singapore is an exporting nation of IPR, Singapore itself does not have enough capacity to build its own biotechnology industries. While, through this FTA with U.S., it create the limitations to parallel importation of patented pharmaceutical products so that provides the foreign companies for the protection of their patented products. In other hands, Singapore uses its sovereign power to create a legal market for U.S. companies to set up their operating companies to gain more tax and working opportunities.
Finally, it is important to note that Singapore is actually ruled by Lee’s family. This fact implies that the decision to make a FTA with U.S. does not seek the common consensus from its people.
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