PHA-Exch> Stop secret treaty threatening generics (ACTA)

[Claudio Schuftan]

From: Sarah Rimmington srimmington at essentialinformation.org
 Sign-on: Stop secret treaty threatening generics (ACTA)

The United States, the European Union, Japan, South Korea, Canada, Mexico,
Australia and New Zealand are now negotiating a new treaty known as the
Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA).

The text of what they are negotiating remains secret, but there's a lot to
be worried about. An over-reaching treaty in this field could undermine
access to low-cost generic medicines, require Internet Service Providers
(ISPs) to monitor all consumers' Internet communications, and interfere with
fair use of copyrighted materials, among many other dangers.

Does the proposed ACTA contain provisions that would result in these harmful
effects?

There's no way to know, because the treaty text remains secret. There is no
legitimate rationale for such secrecy, which denies people around the world
an opportunity to comment on and influence the negotiations.

We are asking organizations and individuals from around the world to sign on
to a letter to ACTA negotiators, asking that they immediately make public
the draft text of the treaty. The text of the letter, with initial
signatories, is below.

If you would like to sign the letter, please send your name, affiliation (if
any), city/country and email address to Sarah Rimmington of Essential Action
at: <srimmington at essentialinformation.org>. Please specify if you are
signing in your individual capacity or on behalf of an organization.
**Pleaase note: Our deadline for accepting signatures is Thursday, August
21, 2008.**

For open and accountable government,

Robert Weissman and Sarah Rimmington,
Essential Action

---

For more on ACTA, see:

<http://www.keionline.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=187>

<http://www.publicknowledge.org/issues/acta>

<
https://secure.eff.org/site/Advocacy?JServSessionIdr009=m5722xgyi2.app2a&cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=383
>

<http://ipjustice.org/wp/campaigns/acta/>

<http://www.michaelgeist.ca/tags/acta>

---

LETTER TO ANTI-COUNTERFEITING TRADE AGREEMENT NEGOTIATORS

Dear [Negotiator],

We are writing to urge the negotiators of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade
Agreement to agree to publish immediately the draft text of the agreement,
as well as pre-draft discussion papers (especially for portions for which no
draft text yet exists), before continuing further discussions over the
treaty. We ask also that you publish the agenda for negotiating sessions and
treaty-related meetings in advance of such meetings, and publish a list of
participants in the negotiations.

There is no legitimate rationale to keep the treaty text secret, and
manifold reasons for immediate publication.

The trade in products intended to deceive consumers as to who made them
poses important but complicated public policy issues. An overbroad or poorly
drafted international instrument on counterfeiting could have very harmful
consequences. Based on news reports and published material from various
business associations, we are deeply concerned about matters such as whether
the treaty will:

* Require Internet Service Providers to monitor all consumers' Internet
communications, terminate their customers' Internet connections based on
rights holders' repeat allegation of copyright infringement, and divulge the
identity of alleged copyright infringers possibly without judicial process,
threatening Internet users' due process and privacy rights; and potentially
make ISPs liable for their end users' alleged infringing activity;

* Interfere with fair use of copyrighted materials;

* Criminalize peer-to-peer file sharing;

* Interfere with legitimate parallel trade in goods, including the resale of
brand-name pharmaceutical products;

* Impose liability on manufacturers of active pharmaceutical ingredients
(APIs), if those APIs are used to make counterfeits -- a liability system
that may make API manufacturers reluctant to sell to legal generic drug
makers, and thereby significantly damage the functioning of the legal
generic pharmaceutical industry;

* Improperly criminalize acts not done for commercial purpose and with no
public health consequences; and

* Improperly divert public resources into enforcement of private rights.

Because the text of the treaty and relevant discussion documents remain
secret, the public has no way of assessing whether and to what extent these
and related concerns are merited.

Equally, because the treaty text and relevant discussion documents remain
secret, treaty negotiators are denied the insights and perspectives that
public interest organizations and individuals could offer. Public review of
the texts and a meaningful ability to comment would, among other benefits,
help prevent unanticipated pernicious problems arising from the treaty. Such
unforeseen outcomes are not unlikely, given the complexity of the issues
involved.

The lack of transparency in negotiations of an agreement that will affect
the fundamental rights of citizens of the world is fundamentally
undemocratic. It is made worse by the public perception that lobbyists from
the music, film, software, video games, luxury goods and pharmaceutical
industries have had ready access to the ACTA text and pre-text discussion
documents through long-standing communication channels.

The G8's recent Declaration on the World Economy implored negotiators to
include ACTA negotiations this year. The speed of the negotiations makes it
imperative that relevant text and documents be made available to the
citizens of the world immediately.

We look forward to your response, and to working with you toward resolution
of our concerns.

Sincerely,

[list in formation)
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