The 9th round of ACTA talks concluded last week in Lucerne, Switzerland. I briefly noted the official statement last week, but a subsequent news report makes it clear that the most important development to come out of the meeting is the breakdown of a consensus on transparency. Following the New Zealand meeting in April, there was consensus achieved on the need to release a draft version of the text. It is now clear that the overwhelming majority of countries favoured continuing this approach by releasing updated versions at the conclusion of subsequent meetings. That did not happen after the Lucerne meeting, however, with both the Swiss and European Commission delegations indicating that they favoured releasing the text but that one delegation did not. It is a safe bet that the U.S. is once again the key holdout on the transparency issue.
Post Tagged with: "transparency"
ACTA Issues Heats Up in Denmark
Last week's revelation that Denmark is one of the countries blocking ACTA transparency has stirred up media attention in that country. The issue was covered by the national broadcaster and in the press.
ACTA Guide, Part Three: Transparency and ACTA Secrecy
Part Three of the ACTA Guide (Part One on the agreement itself, Part Two on the official and leaked documents [update: Part Four on local effects]) focuses on the issue that has dogged the proposed agreement since it was first announced – the lack of transparency associated with the text and the talks. As yesterday's public letter from NDP MP Charlie Angus and the UK cross-party motion highlight, elected officials around the world have latched onto the transparency issue and demanded that their governments open ACTA to public scrutiny. Reviewing the ACTA transparency issue involves several elements: the public concern with ACTA secrecy, the source of the secrecy, and the analysis of whether ACTA secrecy is common when compared to other intellectual property agreements.
1. The Public Concern
Over the course of the two years since ACTA was first publicly announced (it was secretly discussed for about two years before the public unveiling), there have been repeated calls from elected officials and public interest groups to address the transparency concerns. In fact, each time portions of the ACTA text leak, the concerns grow stronger. For example, a sampling of the global call from politicians for greater transparency includes:
ACTA Confidentiality Requirements Revisited: Is The U.S. the Key Barrier?
After watching the Google DC debate on ACTA with its emphasis on the issue of transparency, it is worth revisiting the ACTA document spelling out confidentiality requirements among the negotiating countries. The document, which specifies the U.S. approach, discusses the confidentiality requirements associated with ACTA documents including marking the documents […]
Transparency Compared: FTAA vs. ACTA
Jamie Love has a great post comparing the level of transparency during the FTAA negotiations with the ACTA talks. Several drafts of the FTAA agreement were released to the public, refuting claims that ACTA secrecy is standard practice.
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