The Canadian introduction of Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement compliance legislation on Friday appears to have come in direct response to a new U.S.-led effort to revive the discredited treaty. When the European Parliament overwhelmingly voted to reject ACTA last July, many declared it dead. But is not dead yet: it is […]
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Here Comes ACTA: Canadian Government Introduces Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement Compliance Bill
The Canadian government today introduced a bill aimed at ensuring the Canada complies with the widely discredited Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement. Despite the European Union’s total rejection of ACTA along with assurances that ACTA provisions would not resurface in the Canada – EU Trade Agreement, the new bill is designed to ensure that Canada is positioned to ratify ACTA by addressing border measures provisions. The core elements of the bill include the increased criminalization of copyright and trademark law as well as the introduction of new powers for Canadian border guards to detain shipments and work actively with rights holders to seize and destroy goods without court oversight or involvement.
While the bill could have been worse – it includes an exception for individual travelers (so no iPod searching border guards), it does not include patents, and excludes in-transit shipments – the bill disturbingly suggests that Canada is gearing up to ratify ACTA since this bill addresses many of the remaining non-ACTA compliant aspects of Canadian law. Moreover, it becomes the latest example of caving to U.S. pressure on intellectual property, as the U.S. has pushed for these reforms for years, as evidenced by a 2007 Wikileaks cable in which the RCMP’s National Coordinator for Intellectual Property Crime leaked information on a bill to empower Canadian border guards (the ACTA negotiations were formally announced several months earlier). [Update: On the same day the Canadian government introduced Bill C-56, the U.S. Government issued its Trade Policy Agenda and Annual Report, which calls on Canada to “meet its Anti-Counterfeit Trade Agreement (ACTA) obligations by providing its customs officials with ex officio authority to stop the transit of counterfeit and pirated products through its territory”]
A full examination of Bill C-56 is forthcoming, but its introduction raises four immediate issues: that Canada is moving toward ACTA ratification, that it is pursuing policy based on debunked data on counterfeiting, that the bill could have serious harmful effects with border guards forced to serve as copyright experts without court oversight, and the increased criminalization of copyright and trademark law.
Industry Minister Paradis Makes Foreign Telecom Companies An Offer They Will Likely Refuse
Industry Minister Christian Paradis was in the news this week (Globe, Post, Cartt.ca) urging foreign telecom companies to consider investing in the Canadian market in order to beef up the competitive environment. Paradis is right to court the big foreign players, who would bring capital, buying power that the current Canadian carriers can’t match (potentially leading to better deals on devices), and the ability to leverage their global networks to offer better roaming rates. Foreign telecom companies should view the Canadian market as attractive, given some of the highest ARPU (average revenue per user) rates in the world (see CRTC Figure 6.1.9). Yet they will likely give Canada a pass due in part to failed government policies. These include:
NDP MP Charmaine Borg Tries To Kickstart Canada’s Dormant Privacy Reform
As reports of yet another government security breach emerge, NDP MP Charmaine Borg has at least tried to kickstart the government’s dormant private sector privacy reform efforts with a private member’s bill that would add mandatory security breach disclosure requirements to the law along with new order making power. The […]
Internet Surveillance Bill is Dead but Canada’s Telecom Transparency Gap is Alive and Well
The government’s recent decision to kill its online surveillance legislation marked a remarkable policy shift. The outcry over the plan to require Internet providers to install surveillance capabilities within their networks and to disclose subscriber information on demand without court oversight sparked an enormous backlash, leading to the tacit acknowledgment that the proposal was at odds with public opinion.
While many Canadians welcomed the end of Bill C-30, my weekly technology law column (Toronto Star version, homepage version) notes the year-long battle over the bill placed the spotlight on an ongoing problem with the current system of voluntary disclosure of subscriber information: Internet providers and telecom companies disclose customer information to law enforcement tens of thousands of times every year without court oversight.
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