August 2000 News

Indonesia Corrects July Negative Investment List Blunder

On July 20 and August 16, 2000, the Government of Indonesia issued decrees establishing a new list of sectors totally or partially closed to private foreign and/or domestic investment. The GOI had pledged to issue a streamlined "negative investment list" as part of its IMF-supported economic reform program. The July decree provoked significant public criticism because it banned foreign investment in multimedia (defined to include the Internet) and limited foreign participation in the telecommunications sector to 49 percent. Senior GOI officials pledged to overturn these decisions. The result was the August decree, which withdrew the ban on foreign investment in multimedia and raised the telecommunications foreign investment ceiling to 95 percent. The two decrees also introduce modest liberalization in other sectors. Indonesia's 2000 Negative Investment List

Australia: Parliament's Final Action on Copyright Amendment (Digital Agenda)

On August 17 the Australian Parliament took final action on the copyright amendment (digital agenda) bill 1999, designed to implement Australia's obligations under the 1996 World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Copyright Treaty and the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty. The bill will become effective six months after it receives royal assent (the latter a procedural step that will likely transpire some time in the next few weeks). The government made some minor technical amendments to the bill during the Senate's final debate which were designed to tighten the drafting of enforcement measures and make changes so that references to "copies of broadcasts" in the section on statutory licensing were consistent. However, the government defeated a series of amendments intended to tighten slightly the restrictions on the sale and trafficking of anti-circumvention devices potentially used to defeat technological protections for copyrighted material.

Israel: Purchase Tax Lowered/Abolished on 600+ Items

Israeli Minister of Finance Shochat announced August 14 that the GOI had decided to reduce or abolish the purchase tax on most consumer goods, effective midnight that evening. More than 600 items are affected -- ranging from video cameras and portable CD players (for both of which the tax was abolished altogether) -- to televisions, refrigerators, washing machines and cosmetics, where taxes were all reduced substantially. The purchase taxes on automobiles, gasoline, liquor and tobacco products -- from which the GOI derives the lion's share of its purchase tax revenue -- were not changed. The tax reductions will lower the tax burden on Israeli citizens by approximately NIS 1 billion per year, part of a promise to lower taxes by at least NIS 2 billion contained in the draft 2001 budget. The tax reductions should increase Israeli imports of many consumer items and will provide increased opportunities for U.S. exporters, according to Embassy Tel Aviv.

OECD Anti-Bribery Convention: Ratification by Brazilian Congress

Embassy Brasilia reports that the Brazilian Congress ratified the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention on June 14, 2000, which now awaits final approval by the president. However, legislation to implement the Convention must still be submitted to Congress and it could take some time to pass such legislation. Congressional approval of the Convention represents a major step forward by Brazil in the multilateral effort to fight bribery of foreign public officials in international business transations. The U.S.G. hopes that Argentina and Brazil, among other signatories, will pass implementing legislation and ratify the Convention without delay. Update on where signatories stand in the ratification process