Post Tagged with: "acta"

Canada Favours Early Release of ACTA Text

While the U.S. claims that ACTA documents are a matter of national security and the European Parliament demands greater transparency, it would appear that the Canadian delegation would favour an early release of the draft treaty. According to a confidential November 2008 memorandum that was prepared for Stockwell Day, the Minister of International Trade obtained under the Access to Information Act:

At the upcoming meeting in December 2008, given its commitment to transparency in international trade negotiations, the Canadian delegation plans to argue for a transparent approach. . . This approach would result in an earlier release of the text, which would serve to alleviate domestic concerns about the scope of the agreement and the perceived secrecy surrounding the process. The draft text could then serve as the basis for broad-based public consultations.

Should there be no consensus among the ACTA partners to make the ACTA text public, the Department will need to develop options to address Canadian stakeholders concerns about the lack of transparency in the ACTA process. Department officials will be working with other government departments as well as departmental experts on consultations and communications to develop options for public consultations that would address the issues raised by civil society groups and industry associations. These options would be submitted for your approval.

Notwithstanding the professed interest in transparency, Canada has secretly been a major contributor to the draft text.

March 14, 2009 — 4 comments — News

U.S. Government Says ACTA a National Security Secret

The U.S. government has denied a freedom of information act request for several Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement documents, invoking a clause that says that the documents are protected as national security secrets. The provision applies in cases where there could be "damage to the national security and the original classification authority […]

March 13, 2009 — 4 comments — News

European Parliament Votes For Greater ACTA Transparency

The European Parliament has voted for a proposal to bring more transparency and public access to documents. The resolution includes specific language about the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement. In particular, it states: Acting in accordance with Article 255(1) of the EC Treaty, the European Commission should immediately make all documents related […]

March 11, 2009 — 8 comments — News

March Round of ACTA Negotiations Delayed at U.S. Request

Inside U.S. Trade reports (sub required) that the next round of ACTA negotiations, which had been scheduled for next month in Morocco, has been delayed at the request of U.S. officials. While this does not signal a change in perspective on ACTA, the U.S. did want to provide incoming USTR […]

February 20, 2009 — 6 comments — News

Putting Together the ACTA Puzzle: Privacy, P2P Major Targets

Negotiations on the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement resume next month in Morocco, but as the discussions drag on, details on the proposed treaty are beginning to emerge. Obtaining information through official channels such as Freedom of Information requests has been very difficult; however, there is little doubt that lobby groups have been privy to inside information and so reliable sources have begun to sketch a fairly detailed outline of the proposed treaty.

There is some good news from the details that have started to emerge. First, the treaty is far from complete as there are six main chapters and some key elements have yet to be discussed. Moreover, it is clear that there is significant disagreement on many aspects of the treaty with the U.S. and Japan jointly proposing language and many countries responding with potential changes or even recommendations that the language be dropped altogether.

If that is the good news, the bad news is that most other fears about the scope of ACTA are real. The proposed treaty appears to have six main chapters: (1) Initial Provisions and Definitions; (2) Enforcement of IPR; (3) International Cooperation; (4) Enforcement Practices; (5) Institutional Arrangements; and (6) Final Provisions. Most of the discussion to date has centred on the Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights chapter. As for the other chapters, the U.S. has supplied some proposed definitions and Canada supplied a "non-paper" on the institutional arrangements once a treaty is concluded that calls for the creation of an "ACTA Oversight Council" that would meet each year to discuss implementations, best practices, and assist other governments who are considering joining ACTA.

The work on Enforcement of IPR is broken down into four sections – civil enforcement, border measures, criminal enforcement, and Rights Management Technology/the Internet.

February 3, 2009 — 6 comments — News