US embassy cable - 05ANKARA1551

UNCLAS ANKARA 001551 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR EB/TPP/MTA/IPE - SWILSON/JURBAN AND EUR/SE DEPT 
PASS USTR FOR JCHOE-GROVES 
DEPT PASS LIBRARY OF CONGRESS FOR STEPP 
DEPT PASS USPTO FOR JURBAN AND EWU 
USDOC FOR ITA/MAC/DDEFALCO AND JBOGER 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ETRD, KIPR, TU 
SUBJECT: Special 301: Customs' Response to IACC 
Submission 
 
 
NOT FOR INTERNET DISTRIBUTION 
 
REF:  Ankara 1085 
 
1. Econoff met with Cahit Gokcelik, Deputy Director 
General, Customs General Directorate, and Hulya Erbay, 
Customs Expert, on March 15 to discuss the International 
AntiCounterfeiting Coalition's (IACC) Special 301 
Recommendation on Turkey.  (The Recommendation alleged 
that the Turkish Customs Undersecretariat requires 
companies to pay USD 20,000 to provide anti-counterfeit 
training, although the IACC later backed away from this 
allegation.  However, in a March 3 letter to the U.S. 
Patent and Trademark Officen, IACC President Timothy 
Trainer complained that member companies were required 
to arrange anti-counterfeiting training through a 
private entity (the Foreign Investors Association - 
Turkish acronym YASED).  Trainer urged the USG to obtain 
assurances that companies would be able to deal directly 
with the Turkish Customs Undersecretariat on training 
issues.) 
 
2. Gokcelik maintained that the Customs U/S does not 
receive fees charged by the organizers of anti- 
counterfeiting training.  Furthermore, he asserted that 
Customs is also concerned that the organizers of the 
training not use this as a profit-making opportunity. 
He said that Customs has viewed YASED, a non- 
governmental organization representing foreign 
companies, as a natural partner in organizing such 
training.  However, Customs is open to alternate 
arrangements and welcomed a U.S. Embassy role in 
organizing future training.  However, he stated that 
Customs would prefer to deal with groups of companies, 
rather than with individual firms, to save time and 
effort in organizing these functions.  Erbay identified 
herself as the point of contact for training. 
 
3. Econoff told Gokcelik and Erbay that he would report 
Customs' response to the IACC letter, and would ask 
Washington agencies to reassure the IACC that YASED 
and/or other private entities do not have a monopoly in 
organizing training for the Customs U/S.  He suggested 
that the American Business Forum Turkey (ABFT) could be 
approached on future training. 
 
4. Erbay provided Econoff with data on Customs' 
enforcement activities since 2000.  She stated that 
there had been 334 operations since then, of which 126 
had resulted in court cases.  In 58 enforcement actions, 
most of them ex officio, the goods were released since 
the rightholder did not file a court case within the 
required 10 days.  Philip Morris and British American 
Tobacco were the companies for which the greatest number 
of counterfeit goods, mainly from China, were seized. 
Edelman