KEI has obtained a copy of the August 25, 2010 version of the ACTA consolidated negotiating text. This is Part 1 of our initial notes on the document.
(Part 2 is available here.)
(revised September 9, 2010)
The preamble in the August, 25, 2010 text includes 10 paragraphs, of which only 3 do not have brackets.
On August 10, 2010, KEI sent a letter to the President of Mexico expressing our concerns in the position of the Mexican government in the ACTA negotiations. KEI noted that the proposed ACTA text, if adopted, would require the adoption of new legal provisions that would compromise the public interest of Mexico. KEI asked the Mexican government to change some positions it had taken earlier in the negotiation, and to support the inclusion in the ACTA text of of new flexibilities and protections of the fundamental rights of its citizens.
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https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1ElI6rxLsq1SAlB69bsvti1_sK6A7W7pXP6Zmn7WM_lc/pub?start=false&loop=false&delayms=3000 Continue Reading
On Tuesday, August 17, 2010, USTR organized a lunch between ACTA negotiators and civil society NGOs. There was not much notice. We received our invite to the lunch last Thursday. Representatives from KEI, Public Citizen, Oxfam, Public Knowledge and the American University program on intellectual property attended the event.
Since the early ‘70s, European countries have adopted a comprehensive legal framework on personal data protection that aims to balance the free flow of information for market purposes with an adequate level of protection for the right of privacy. Continue Reading
Beginning in 1985, the United States government (USG) diplomatic and trade officials have engaged in wide ranging activities aimed at changing global norms for the protection of intellectual property rights, with a particular emphasis on the IPR protections for pharmaceutical products.
This note reports on U.S. Department of State cables sent in 1986 and 1987, that discussed the U.S. government efforts to change policies in Brazil on the intellectual property protection for pharmaceutical products. The cables have been obtained by KEI with a FOIA request.
USTR will host the next round of ACTA negotiations that will take place all of next week, August 16-20, in Washington DC. According to USTR yesterday, the negotiators “expect to cover all issues” and the agenda would be made available in a day or so.
Here is a proposed agenda that we have obtained from another source.
ANTI-COUNTERFEITING TRADE AGREEMENT (ACTA)
PROPOSED AGENDA
10th Round of Negotiations
August 16th-20th, 2010, Washington, DCACTA’s Washington DC conclave: Is this Round 10?
According to an informed source, USTR intimated that next week’s ACTA meeting in Washington DC will be attended by all the negotiating parties and that discussions would include all issues under consideration in ACTA. We are still awaiting a response from USTR regarding the attendees, scope and purpose of the meeting but this new information seems to be indicative of nothing short of the next ACTA round.
Earlier, US government officials had informed that the an intersessional meeting would be held the week of 16 August in Washington DC.
Continue ReadingWHO releases names of experts and advisor to the Emergency Committee concerning Influenza Pandemic (H1N1) 2009
WHO has released the ‘List of Members of, and Advisor to, the International Health Regulations (2005) Emergency Committee concerning Influenza Pandemic (H1N1) 2009‘ at the following site: http://www.who.int/ihr/emerg_comm_members_2009/en/. Of the 15 members and one advisor, 6 had declaration of interests. On this matter, WHO had the following statement:
Letter to President of Mexico regarding ACTA
The following is an August 10, 2010 letter written by Alberto Cerda Silva, a Research Associate of Knowledge Ecology International, to Felipe Calderón Hinojosa, Presidente Constitucional de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos, regarding the position of the Mexican government in the ACTA negotiations.