LEGAL ENVIRONMENT
Summary
Ecuador’s legal environment stifles IT entrepreneurship and needs further reform. The country has signed the major international agreements related to Intellectual Property Rights (IPR), yet enforcement remains lax according to BSA statistics. The Andean Community has created an IPR framework which should encourage Ecuador to bring policies and enforcement in-line with its more developed neighbors.
The Andean Community has passed Decision 486 - Common Intellectual Property Regime. The Decision covers issues related to IPR and is written in a legalistic way. It can be found in its entirety here.
The
United States Trade Representative has identified a group of countries that do
not provide adequate and effective IPR protection. Ecuador is grouped with the
third and last category of countries that need better IPR practices; these
countries are categorized in the "Watch List" (Source: USTR).
|
Piracy Rates |
Software
Revenue Lost (US$ Millions) |
|||||||||||
|
Year |
1994 |
1995 |
1996 |
1997 |
1998 |
1999 |
1994 |
1995 |
1996 |
1997 |
1998 |
1999 |
|
Ecuador |
90% |
88% |
80% |
75% |
73% |
71% |
13.7 |
15.5 |
12.9 |
13.2 |
15.6 |
25.1 |
|
Peru |
86% |
84% |
74% |
66% |
64% |
63% |
32.3 |
40.5 |
32.4 |
31.0 |
37.5 |
27.2 |
|
U.S. |
31% |
26% |
27% |
27% |
25% |
25% |
3,589 |
2,940 |
2,360 |
2,779 |
2,875 |
3,191 |
Ecuador
and WIPO sign MOU
The
World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and Ecuador signed a Memorandum
of Understanding outlining technical cooperation in the fields of copyright and
industrial property. These projects will be undertaken in 2000-2001.
The
Memorandum of Understanding, signed in the context of WIPO's cooperation for
development program, seeks to support the development of effective national
intellectual property systems. Under the terms of the agreement, WIPO will
support the recently established Ecuadorian Institute of Intellectual Property (IEPI)
in developing a strong, modern and fully operational intellectual property
infrastructure in Ecuador. The IEPI, established in 1998, is the official body
in Ecuador responsible for industrial property and copyright issues (Source:
WIPO).
Corruption
The
National Association of Entrepreneurs (ANDE) in Quito, recently conducted a
study of the country's legal system and how it breeds corruption. The study
found that since the republic was founded 167 years ago, some 90,250 legal norms
have been created, of which 52,774 were in force in 1997. The number of
overlapping, unclear and contradictory laws in Ecuador creates an environment of
legal chaos and leaves the application and enforcement of laws to the discretion
of bureaucrats.
ANDE has worked to disseminate the findings of this study to the broadest cross section of Ecuadorian policymakers and business leaders. Their booklet, which was released on April 15, 2000 has been sent to the Commission on Anti-Corruption as well as to civil society organizations, legislators, administration officials, the judiciary, political party leaders, presidential candidates, universities, and media representatives throughout the country (Source: CIPE).
This report was completed in December 2000 for the class Impacts of National Information Technology Environments on Business given by Professor Erran Carmel in the program of Management of Global Information Technology at the Kogod School of Business in Washington DC