NEW DELHI, May 1: India, on Thursday, ``regretted'' the Clinton administration's decision to place India on its ``priority watch list'' under the Special 301 provision for New Delhi's failure to provide protection to American intellectual property.

An official spokesperson said that both India and the US are members of the World Trade Organisation which provided the forum for discussing this issue, pointing out that in recent years, there had been growing areas of agreement of co-operation between the two countries on trade and economic matters.

``It is hoped that the US recognises that issues dealt with in the WTO are best resolved on a multilateral basis,'' the spokesperson added.

Special 301 is a provision under the Omnibus Trade Competitiveness Act of 1988 of the US.

This provision deals with identification of countries, which, in the US perception, deny adequate and effective protection of intellectual property rights.

The US has been following the practice of placing countries under three different lists: ``watch list'', ``priority watch list'' and ``priority foreign country'' on grounds of inadequacy of protection given to American intellectual property.

India was first placed in the ``priority watch list'' in 1989, upgraded as a ``priority foreign country'' in April 1991 and subsequently moved down to the ``priority watch list'' in 1994.

In an announcement in Washington on April 30, the United States trade representative had stated that developing countries not yet providing patent protection for pharmaceutical and agricultural chemical products to provide a ``mailbox'' in which to file patent applications.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.