MEPs Call For Transparency In ACTA Negotiations

by Ulrika Lomas, for LawAndTax-News.com, Brussels

13 September 2010

A majority of the members of the European Parliament (EP) have called for more transparency in the ongoing negotiations for the proposed global Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), and have asked the European Commission (EC) to make all related documents public.

Participants, in what was the 10th round of negotiations on the ACTA held in Washington last month, included Australia, Canada, the European Union (EU), Japan, Korea, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore, Switzerland and the United States.

The ACTA is a multilateral agreement aimed at combating infringements of intellectual property rights, for example the piracy of music, and films and the counterfeiting of clothing brands. However, repeated decisions not to release its text have led to accusations of a lack of transparency, and concern as to its actual terms from some quarters, particularly those concerned with internet and digital rights.

The official position of the EP now calls on the EC to make all documents relating to the ongoing negotiations publicly available, but the Trade Commissioner, Karel de Gucht, has only been able to promise that the EC would continue to keep the EP abreast of the negotiations.

He has reassured the EP that the ACTA would not be "about checking on the content of travellers’ laptops or computers," and would "not lead to limitation of civil liberties or harassment of consumers." He added that it "will not change any EU legislation through the back door".

The EP had already adopted a resolution last March calling for the negotiations to be transparent. Members demanded then that no personal searches should be conducted at EU borders and that the agreement should not introduce any kind of "three strikes" internet disconnection as a penalty for three online copyright infringements.

The EP’s new declaration argues that the agreement should not impose harmonization of EU copyright, patent or trademark law nor weaken fundamental rights such as freedom of expression and the right to privacy. It also emphasizes that economic and innovation risks must be evaluated before introducing criminal sanctions where civil measures are already in place.

The next round of ACTA negotiations will take place in Tokyo from September 23 to October 1. Participants have committed to resolving remaining substantive issues at that round.

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