OTTAWA, April 25: Canada has asked to participate as a third party in World Trade Organisation consultations on China's enforcement of intellectual property rights, Trade Minister David Emerson said on Wednesday.

The US initiated these consultations on April 9.

“We are seeking clarification from China on its intellectual property rights enforcement regime, given concerns expressed by Canadian industry,” said Emerson in a statement. “Our goal is to resolve this issue through dialogue with the Chinese government and through cooperation with our trading partners.”

Canada and the US would present their concerns to Chinese authorities and assess the latest steps taken by China to bring its intellectual property regime into compliance with its WTO obligations.

If consultations do not alleviate US and Canadian concerns that China's intellectual property regime does not comply with its WTO obligations, a WTO panel could be requested to adjudicate the issue, the minister said.

Canada exported 7.7 billion Canadian dollars ($6.9 billion) in goods to China in 2006, and imported 34.5 billion dollars (31 billion US) worth of goods.

Counterfeit and pirated goods, mostly from China, are estimated by Canadian industry to impact the Canadian economy by several billion dollars annually.—AFP