Thailand moved up four places to place 65th among 128 countries in this year’s IPRI ranking. The country’s score increased by 0.1 to 5, still below the global average of 5.45.

The IPRI is an international comparative study that measures the significance of both physical and intellectual property rights and their protection.

According to the Property Rights Alliance, which completed the ranking, much of the improvement this year is due to the Legal and Political Environment subindex, which increased by 0.3 to 4.3 with scores of 5.1 in Judicial Independence, 4.7 in Rule of Law, 3.2 in Political Stability, and 4.2 in Control of Corruption.

The Physical Property Rights subindex remained the same at 6.5 with scores of 5.2 in Property Rights, 9.9 in Registering Property, and 4.3 in Ease of Access to Loans.

The Intellectual Property Rights subindex remained the same at 4.3 with scores of 3.7 in Intellectual Property Protection, 6.5 in Patent Protection, and 2.9 in Copyright Piracy Level.

In the 17 sub-indices, Thailand ranks the highest, 7th, in the “Registering Property” area, and the lowest, 108th, in “Political Stability”.

Throughout Asean, Singapore led with a score of 8.16, which placed it 6th in the global ranking. Myanmar showed the second poorest score after Venezuela, at 2.76. Malaysia was placed 26th, Philippines 63rd, Indonesia 67th and Vietnam 85th.

Bienvenido Oplas Jr, of the Southeast Asia Network for Development (SEANET) said that IPR protection is still a relatively new concept for many Asean countries and that a number of Aseancountries were not strict on property rights protection.

“Thailand and Indonesia, for instance, issued a number of patent-busting compulsory licenses (CL) for several patented medicines over the last decade,” he said.

“Property rights are the linchpin of a prosperous society. They say what is yours, what is not, and how to exchange with others in order to create value” said Lorenzo Montanari, executive director of the Property Rights Alliance that completed the ranking.

“That is why they are human rights and essential to individual liberty. A weak property rights regime means shorter lives, less civic engagement, and the inability to participate in the global efforts to discover, invent, and share knowledge”.

Finland remains in first place in the 2016 IPRI with the score of 8.38, followed by New Zealand, Luxemburg, Norway and Switzerland.

At the bottom is Venezuela followed by Myanmar, Bangladesh, Haiti, Zimbabwe, Burundi, Nigeria, Pakistan, Moldova, Mauritania, Chad, Lebanon, Madagascar, Ukraine and Nicaragua.

The index, which is entirely dedicated to the measurement of intellectual and physical property rights, covers 128 countries which represent 98 per cent of world gross domestic product and 93 per cent of world population. The 2015 index covered 129 countries.

Director-general Nantawan Sakuntanak said the IP Department was preparing a plan that will cover four areas – encourage more Thais to create intellectual properties, protection of IP rights, tackling violations and creating awareness about the need to respect such rights.

The plan, which should be completed soon, will include short-, medium- and long-term strategies. They will be submitted to Commerce Minister Apiradi Tantraporn and will then be proposed to Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha.

Under the short-term strategy, the department aims to focus its eradication efforts on the “red zones” nationwide where counterfeit merchandise is sold. There are currently 29 such locations, including MBK, Pantip, Patpong, Silom Road, Sukhumvit Road and Klong Thom in Bangkok,Chiang Mai, Phuket, and a marketplace on the Thai-Cambodian border.

The department hopes to halve the number of red zones by next year and wipe them out totally by 2021. However, it is necessary to receive full cooperation from other state agencies. It is also necessary to eliminate the production sources of such illegal merchandise and major distributors, Nantawan said.

IP violations in the red zones have already declined sharply. The Pantip Plaza building management has refused to renew the leases of vendors who have violated IP rights, with only 10 or so vendors still selling fake computer software there.

Meanwhile, the sale of fake mobile phones and accessories at MBK has also declined. The IP Department will meet with about 100 vendors at MBK on March 19 to establish understanding on the need to refrain from selling illegal fake merchandise, Nantawan said.

In addition, authorities have stepped up eradication efforts, especially on the Thai-Cambodian border. Talad Roang Guer is a major delivery point for fake merchandise that is then distributed to other provinces, Bangkok included.

Last year, the Customs Department seized Bt2.2 million worth of fake merchandise, while the Department of Special Investigation confiscated more than 800,000 fake eyeglasses.

The National Anti-Corruption Commission also seized assets of traders engaging in the sale or distribution of counterfeit merchandise.

The IP Department will raise awareness among Thais of the need to respect IP rights by not buying and/or using fake products. Thailand’s reputation and image overseas will be enhanced when the red zones have been greatly reduced, or fully eliminated, the department believes. It would also mean more foreign investment, it hopes.