The review, which could have resulted either in the Philippines’ removal from the list or downgrading to the priority watch list, will be continued this year, the USTR said.

“An out-of-cycle review (OCR) for the Philippines was conducted in 2009. But because the review was inconclusive, the Philippines remains on the Watch List,” USTR senior media affairs liaison Nefeterius Akeli McPherson said in an e-mail.

This year’s review, she said, will focus on issues highlighted in the Special 301 report released late last week: the pending establishment of courts devoted to resolving intellectual property (IP) cases, passage of legislation to punish illegal camcording and implementation of a global IP treaty.

“The 2010 OCR will be conducted when there have been some notable developments on pending IP rights issues highlighted in the report,” said Ms. McPherson.

She did not elaborate on when the 2010 review will be concluded, saying only that results will follow “at the appropriate time.”

The watch list guides US trade policy as countries that figure on priority list become the focus of bilateral discussions and those that end up as “Priority Foreign Countries” face trade sanctions.

The Philippines has been on both low-level and priority watch lists since 1992. More recently, it has remained on the low-level watch list since 2006 after a five-year stint on the priority watch list, archives show.

The Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines said on Monday it is batting for the country’s exit from the watch list by 2011. The agency said efforts are under way to improve laws and speed up the judicial processes. - Jessica Anne D. Hermosa