IP Developments In The DR- CAFTA Countries

As part of its long-term plan of creating a Free Trade Area of the Americas, the United States is building smaller trade blocs through bilateral and multilateral free trade agreements. The first such agreement was the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico, which came into force on January 1, 1994. Central America with its market of 35 million consumers, was the next logical step, not least because collectively the Central American countries of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua represent the second largest US export market, with annual trading figures of $16 billion a year. Although the United States´ primary concern is to protect the interest of US companies, the IP provisions included in the free trade agreements also benefit the local economies.