Search Results for: wto

USTR has issued an announcement for new procedures including public hearings on the 2010 Special 301 list. This is an effort to make the 301 process somewhat more open, and to provide more formal opportunities to both supporters and critics of USTR’s bilateral trade pressures to make their case. USTR’s actions are welcomed by several NGOs that have been critical of the unilateral trade pressures initiative, as it seems to provide the beginning of a more mature discussion about the objectives of trade policy, and the evidence to support different positions. Continue Reading →

On February 8, 2010, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) will hold a ” Symposium on the Evolution of the Regulatory Framework of Test Data – From the Property of the Intellect to the Intellect of Property“.

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In a recent statement to Wired, USTR tried to justify the secrecy of the ACTA negotiations as follows:

The Administration also recognizes that confidentiality in international negotiations among sovereign entities is the standard practice to enable officials to engage in frank exchanges of views, positions, and specific negotiating proposals, and thereby facilitate the negotiation and compromise that are necessary to reach agreement on complex issues.

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Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) has offered an amendment to the health care reform bill that would eliminate data exclusivity in cases where duplicating clinical trials involving human subjects would violate Article 20 of the Declaration of Helsinki on Ethical Principles for Medical Research Involving Human subjects. The relevant article from the Declaration of Helsinki reads as follows:

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After attending the three day WTO Ministerial meeting in Geneva, I took the non-stop United Airlines Flight back to Washington, DC. On the airplane were a number of U.S. government officials including the head of USTR, Ambassador Ron Kirk. I had a chance to talk to Kirk about the secrecy of the ACTA agreement. He said the ACTA text would be made public, “when it is finished.” I told him it that was too late, and the public wanted the text out now, before it is too late to influence anything.

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November 9, 2009

Senator Patrick Leahy, Chairman
Senator Jeff Sessions, Ranking Member
Senate Judiciary Committee

Senator Max Baucus, Chairman
Senator Chuck Grassley, Ranking Member
Senate Finance Committee

Representative John Conyers, Chairman
Representative Lamar Smith, Ranking Member
House Committee on the Judiciary

Representative Henry Waxman, Chairman,
Representative Joe Barton, Ranking Member
House Committee on Energy and Commerce

Representative Charles Rangel, Chairman
Representative Dave Camp, Ranking Member
House Committee on Ways and Means

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ACTA is a beefed up version of the WTO TRIPS enforcement sections, without the balance and safeguards of the agreement as whole.

1. The ACTA has ignored or left out the safeguards in TRIPS Articles 1, 6, 7, 8, 40 and 44.2.
2. The ACTA has refashioned in a more restrictive and anti-consumer way Articles 41, 44.1, 45, 46,47, 50, most of Section 4, and Article 61.

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The Wellcome Trust convened an “Opinion Formers Conference” on “Counterfeit Medicines: Perspectives and Action” on Monday 26 October 2009. Continue Reading →