In a formal filing with the US Trade Representative's Office (USTR), the International Intellectual Property Alliance said the Bush administration should ask China for immediate consultations on the issue at the WTO. That would be a first step towards asking for a WTO panel to rule on whether China was meeting its commitments to stamp out piracy.

USTR spokesman Richard Mills said the administration would ``carefully review'' the request.

``As part of a comprehensive enforcement strategy of bilateral negotiations and international efforts to stop trade in fakes, USTR is now conducting a systematic legal review of China's entire IPR [intellectual property rights] enforcement system,'' he said.

The US move reflects growing frustration that promises made by Vice-Premier Wu Yi and other top officials have not made a significant dent in piracy. ``Our objective is to persuade the Chinese government that they must take real, not rhetorical, deterrent enforcement action that ... significantly reduces the rampant piracy that afflicts their entire country,'' alliance president Eric Smith said in a statement that also urged Japan and Europe to join WTO consultations with China.

Neil Turkewitz, executive vice-president for international affairs at the Recording Industry Association of America, said China's high piracy rates are exacerbated by import barriers that keep out legitimate products.

``Given the enormity of the problem, we believe that these issues deserve to be elevated to consideration by the WTO,'' he said.

A WTO complaint against China for piracy would be the second to be filed by the United States since Beijing joined the WTO in December 2001. The first involved obstacles to imports of US-made semiconductors.

Many US companies doing business in China have been reluctant to push for a case at the WTO because of concern over how Beijing would respond.

REUTERS