The Canadian government provided its first major briefing on the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement this morning. There were attendees from all sides of the issue as well as an (unlisted) representative from the U.S. Embassy. The meeting started with a bang as Don Stephenson, an Assistant Deputy Minister at DFAIT, noted […]

Canadian Heritage Memorandum, December 8, 2020, ATIP A-2020-00498
Bill C-10
Canadian ACTA Consultation Report Revealed
In an earlier post, I noted that the Department of Foreign Affairs will be holding a consultation meeting on ACTA next week. DFAIT first consulted on ACTA in the spring of 2008. While I discussed some of the findings based on documents obtained under the Access to Information Act, I […]
European Commission Plans ACTA Consultation Meeting
Fresh off the European Parliament resolution calling for greater ACTA transparency, the European Commission has announced plans for a public consultation meeting next month. Moreover, the EC has updated several of its public documents (Fact Sheet, FAQ, Backgrounder) in which it seeks to respond to claims regarding ACTA transparency.
ACTA Timeline in Spanish
A Columbian blogger has translated my recent posting on ACTA into Spanish.
The ACTA Timeline (or Everything You Need To Know About ACTA But Your Government Won’t Tell You)
Following yesterday's column/post on ACTA, I thought it be useful to develop an ACTA timeline so that the progression of the still-secret treaty can be more easily understood. This lengthy post builds on a range of articles, blog postings, official documents released under Access to Information, and well-publicized leaks. While the starting point is October 2007, when there was a coordinated announcement from participating countries, Mark Harris has an insightful post tracing ACTA lobbying to 2004 and the first Global Congress on Combating Counterfeiting. Further, I've uncovered Canadian documents as early as January 2007 that discuss ACTA.
Assuming October 2007, however, the chronology looks something like this: