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Wednesday October 17, 2012 |
The Canada - EU Trade Agreement negotiations continue this week in
Brussels with both parties hoping to wrap up many outstanding
issues. According to information provided by Canadian officials at a
briefing earlier this month, the plan is to narrow the areas of disagreement
to no more than ten issues, with ministers meeting in Europe in
November to try to forge an agreement on the contentious areas.
While patent issues will clearly be part of the November discussion,
Canadian officials advised that the copyright chapter was largely
concluded. In fact, when I asked directly whether the text would
require changes to current Canadian copyright law, the response was
that it would not.
Notwithstanding those reassurances, Canadian officials acknowledged
the border measures issues were still unresolved. Moreover, days
later a European briefing offered a somewhat different take on the
copyright provisions. La Quadrature du Net, a leading European NGO,
reports
that the European Commission confirmed that the controversial
criminal ACTA provisions were still included in the CETA draft.
The reports have sparked a wave of new concern (see here,
here, here,
here,
and here)
with suggestions that ACTA is "back from the dead in Europe."
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Monday October 15, 2012 |
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The Canadian Press reports
that an internal study by Industry Canada and Health Canada
estimates that EU patent demands as part of the Canada - EU Trade
Agreement could increase Canadian health care costs by up to $2
billion per year. The drug patent issue is viewed as a key roadblock
in the CETA negotiations with the Canadian government holding off
taking a position until ministers meet in November.
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Monday October 15, 2012 |
Gordon Ritchie, one of the architects of the Canada - U.S. Free
Trade Agreement, on CETA
and the TPP:
from what I have seen of the proposed deal with the European
Community, it is not at all obvious what Canada stands to gain.
The benefits are even less clear from Canadian participation in
the trans-Pacific Partnership: we already have freer access than
other countries to our major trading partner, the United States,
and to Mexico.
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Friday October 05, 2012 |
Canada's chief Canada - EU Trade Agreement negotiators provided an
update on the CETA talks today, sketching out an ambitious
negotiation schedule that they hope will lead to a Ministerial
meeting in November to resolve the key outstanding issues. The next
round of CETA negotiations will occur in Brussels in mid-October and
run for two weeks. Negotiators hope that the round will
resolve most issues, leaving the most contentious concerns to the
ministers, who will meet in Europe in mid-November.
Intellectual property remains on the contentious issue list, but
negotiators advised that a deal on the copyright rules has largely
been reached. The lead IP negotiator indicated that given the
European Parliament rejection of ACTA, there is now no appetite in
Europe for the inclusion of controversial ACTA provisions within the
agreement. In fact, when asked directly whether CETA would
require legislative changes to current Canadian copyright law (ie.
post C-11), Canada's lead negotiators said he did not think changes
would be required. Assuming this interpretation of CETA and the
Copyright Act is accurate, it suggests no changes on issues such as
copyright term, resale rights, ISP liability, and enforcement. Early
drafts
of CETA addressed all of these issues.
While a copyright deal has been reached, the IP rules on geographic
indications and patents are both headed to a ministerial showdown.
The negotiators indicated the GI issue would require a political
decision. The GI issue apparently includes border measures
provisions, which has implications for copyright enforcement. The
negotiators also confirmed that patents, which have been the target
of major lobbying campaigns from the pharmaceutical industry, have
still not been the subject of negotiation. The political pressures
on pharmaceutical patents are significant on both sides, with some
EU member states pushing for extended protection and several
Canadian provinces arguing against changes that could add billions
to health care costs. The negotiators identified several additional
issues that will ultimately require political intervention: rules of
origin for automobiles, agriculture issues including beef, pork,
dairy, and fish, government procurement, as well as services. The
objective remains to conclude the deal by the end of the year.
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