Ukraine has been hit with trade sanctions worth $75m after the US judged measures Kiev introduced to combat CD piracy to be "weak" and "ineffective".

The sanctions, involving 100% tariffs on shoes, metals and diamonds, follow two years of urging by Washington to tighten up controls.

Ukraine is likely to be stuck with the sanctions, which threaten hopes for 6% growth in economic output this year, until at least the end of March, when parliamentary elections are due, observers said.

While the Kiev government has attempted to launch an anti-piracy crackdown, the Ukraine parliament last week passed weaker legislation, including watered down regulations on licensing requirements and excluding from the measures CDs transported through the country from oversight.

Bad habits

The US has not been alone in expressing its disquiet at Ukraine, whose flourishing bootlegging industry produces an estimated 80 million audio and video discs a year.

Record industry representatives from other countries have expressed similar complaints in the past.

And Ukraine is far from being the only country to host counterfeiters who the office of the US Trade Representative believe cost US producers alone about $200m a year in copyright infringement.

Since its entry into the World Trade Organisation, China has begun a crackdown on its own thriving bootleggers, while similar operations exist across the southern hemisphere.