PHM-Exch> Dutch ACTA Leaks Shows What Nations Back Transparency

[Claudio Schuftan]

From: Meghana Bahar meghana at haiap.org
 Health Action International Asia-Pacific

Following the latest round of Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA)
talks in Mexico, internal documents leaked from the Dutch delegation have
offered additional insight into the closed proceedings.

>From the documents we’re given a look at what countries back the idea of
making ACTA negotiations more transparent, a growing concern given growing
criticism over the secret meetings. The document claims that Poland, the
United Kingdom, Austria, The Netherlands, Finland, Ireland, Hungary, Estonia
and Sweden are all in favor of transparency.

Germany has apparently not yet decided on its stance on transparency, and
was joined by Belgium, Portugal and Denmark as being unconvinced “that
complete transparency has to be achieved.” Denmark was further labeled as
“not very flexible.”

Korea and Singapore flat out oppose the release of documents. The U.S. has
remained silent regarding its stance on transparency, which apparently has
unnerved other countries, such as France, who indicated “they were concerned
about the position of the USA.”

Part of the movement for transparency seems to be to address “unwarranted
criticism” from the public over fears that ACTA would contain measures for
searching personal belongings or a feature a three-strikes type of
anti-piracy law. The Dutch document expressed that those types of measures
are not a part of ACTA.

Michael Geist notes that full transparency of the ACTA proceedings would
require a unanimous agreements among all parties involved.

The document also reveals that the U.S. wrote the ACTA section on the
enforcement of Intellectual Property pertaining to the Internet, to which
Computerworld said, “This is something critics have feared for some time,
since leaked versions indicate strong similarities between parts of the
treaty and the U.S. law, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.”

The 8th round of ACTA talks are scheduled for April 12-16 in New Zealand.

Source link:
http://www.gamepolitics.com/2010/02/25/dutch-acta-leaks-shows-what-nations-back-transparency
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