Cooperation in the Pacific Rim by Jakob Polacsek, World Economic Forum (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0) https://www.flickr.com/photos/worldeconomicforum/48179628441

Digital Trade

Battle over ACTA Heats Up As DFAIT Consults, U.S. Promotes Global DMCA

My weekly technology law column (Toronto Star version, homepage version) begins by noting that next week, the Department of Foreign Affairs will conduct one of the stranger consultations in recent memory. Officials have invited roughly 70 stakeholder groups to discuss an international intellectual property treaty that the U.S. regards as a national security secret and about which the only public substantive information has come from a series of unofficial leaks.

Since then-Minister David Emerson announced Canada’s participation in the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement negotiations in October 2007, the ACTA has been dogged by controversy over the near-total lack of transparency. Early negotiations were held in secret locations with each participating country (Canada, the U.S., the European Union, Japan, and Australia among them) offering nearly-identical cryptic press releases that did little more than fuel public concern.

The participating countries conducted four major negotiation sessions in 2008 and though the first session of 2009 was postponed at the request of the U.S. (which was busy transitioning to a new president), the negotiations are set to resume later this spring. When they do, negotiators will face two key challenges.

March 30, 2009 — 5 comments — Columns

Battle Over Anti-Counterfeiting Treaty Heats Up

Appeared in the Toronto Star on March 30, 2009 as Anti-counterfeiting Treaty Talks Heat Up Next week, the Department of Foreign Affairs will conduct one of the stranger consultations in recent memory. Officials have invited roughly 70 stakeholder groups to discuss an international intellectual property treaty that the U.S. regards […]

March 30, 2009 — Comments are Disabled — Columns Archive

Pressure for ACTA Transparency Builds

Last week I blogged about internal Canadian documents that indicate support for greater ACTA transparency. Now the pressure is building elsewhere, as the U.S. Trade Representative Office has promised to conduct a review of policies and Swedish politicians are voicing their support for greater openness.

March 21, 2009 — Comments are Disabled — News

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