Ifpi: Ukraine Top Piracy Spot Group Asks Eu To Step Up Copyright Protection There

LONDON-The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) is stepping up efforts to fight piracy in Ukraine, which it says has taken over from Bulgaria as the prime source of illegal product in Europe.
The body has made a submission to European Union Trade Commissioner Hans Van den Broek ahead of an EU-Ukraine summit taking place July 23 in Kiev, in which it asks for improved copyright protection for international repertoire in the country and stronger legislation to fight piracy. The IFPI also plans to set up a representative office in Kiev later this year to provide assistance to the Ukraine government in combating the problem.
In a statement, the IFPI says that "much of Bulgaria's pirate manufacturing has moved to Ukraine, which now has an estimated production capacity of 70 million optical discs-more than twice the level of estimated legitimate demand in the entire region of Central and Eastern Europe. Piracy of international repertoire in the country is estimated at 95% of all recordings."
According to the IFPI's senior advisor on international trade, Stefan Krawczyk, at least three CD presses were moved from Bulgaria to Ukraine in late 1997 and early 1998, after successes against Bulgarian pirates on their home turf caused them to shift their operations. Recent seizures elsewhere in Europe have led the IFPI to believe that Ukraine is now the No. 1 source of illegal product in the region.
Krawczyk says Russian customs agents have made several seizures of pirate product on the Russia/Belarus border in recent weeks that transportation documents indicated had been manufactured in Ukraine. One seizure yielded about 300,000 discs; this follows the interception of some 35,000 CDs on the Italian/Austrian border in May (Billboard, June 5). Those discs, declared for import as blank CD-Rs, were manufactured in Kiev and included recordings of Mariah Carey, Tina Turner, Bob Marley, and Luciano Pavarotti.
Krawczyk says that while Ukrainian law provides some protections for domestic artists, "this is not Ukrainian folk music that's being seized, but international artists' repertoire"-copyright infringement of which is not punishable in the country. The submission to Van den Broek says that there are "many legal loopholes and shortcomings" in the country, recommending full 50-year retroactive protection for sound recordings, strong criminal penalties for copyright infringement, increased competence for law enforcement agencies, and production controls on CD manufacture.
The IFPI believes that these measures should be used as a bargaining chip by the EU in Ukraine's bid to join the World Trade Organization and its desire to benefit from financial aid from, and trade with, the EU. "Failing to provide proper copyright protection and allowing its CD plants to swamp the world with illegal CDs seriously puts in jeopardy all of these objectives," the body states.
Krawczyk says the IFPI office in Kiev "will be a low-profile operation-we're not going in with the Marines."
Still, he describes the office as a "high-risk operation" that experience in Bulgaria and elsewhere in Eastern Europe indicates may attract threats from those whose activities it is intended to disrupt. He says that IFPI worldwide head of enforcement Iain Grant is recruiting staff for the new operation, people who "will be from an enforcement background rather than lobbyists."