While the MPAA characterizes the calls for ACTA transparency as a distraction, at least two U.S. Senators do not agree. Senators Bernie Sanders (I-VI) and Sherrod Brown (D-OH) have written to USTR, asking that the ACTA text be made public.
Post Tagged with: "anti-counterfeiting trade agreement"
Library Content Alliance on ACTA
The Library Content Alliance has produced an issue brief on ACTA demonstrating specific concerns to the library community.
OECD Confirms Canada Among Lowest Sources Of Counterfeiting
The OECD has released new data on its global counterfeiting estimates, concluding that the share of counterfeit and pirated goods in world trade is estimated to have increased from 1.85% in 2000 to 1.95% in 2007. That represents an increase to $250 billion worldwide. That is obviously a big number, but notably far lower than the claims from ACTA supporters. Copyright lobby groups have long claimed – without empirical support – that counterfeiting and piracy represents 5 – 7% of global trade. The OECD data indicates those claims are wildly exaggerated.
This is particularly relevant in Canada where counterfeiting claims have been based on the same faulty data (the international story is similar). For example, the Chamber of Commerce's IP Council claimed in its report on IP that "it has been conservatively estimated that counterfeiting and piracy cost the Canadian economy $22 billion annually in lost tax revenue, investment and innovation." The source for this claim is a speech by Chamber President Perrin Beatty. Similarly, the Ontario Chamber of Commerce has argued:
MPAA on ACTA
"Outcries on the lack of transparency in the ACTA negotiations are a distraction."
Why The Lack of ACTA Transparency Is Not Standard
In the face of widespread criticism of the lack of ACTA transparency, participating governments and music industry lobbyists have claimed that the transparency issue is much ado about nothing. As governments seek to keep relevant information secret, those same governments released a joint statement last week arguing that "it is accepted practice during trade negotiations among sovereign states to not share negotiating texts with the public at large, particularly at earlier stages of the negotiation."
It is important to emphatically state that this is simply not the case for many multilateral agreements and the activities of international organizations that typically serve as the forum for global agreement discussions. U.S. NGO groups have made a strong case for how ACTA's lack of transparency is out-of-step with many other global norm setting exercises. With regard to international fora, they note that the WTO, WIPO, WHO, UNCITRAL, UNIDROIT, UNCTAD, OECD, Hague Conference on Private International Law, and an assortment of other conventions have all been far more open than ACTA. For example, it notes that the WIPO Internet treaties, which offer the closest substantive parallel to the ACTA Internet provisions, were by comparison very transparent:
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