Blog Archives

ACTA will be signed Saturday

By Ante

On Saturday, October 1, 2011, parties that have completed relevant domestic processes will sign ACTA (Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement). For background information on who will sign, see: Who is Signing ACTA: State of Play Cont’d (EU will not sign) FFII (Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure) statement: The world faces major challenges: access to medicine, diffusion of green technology needed to fight climate change, and...

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With ACTA, manipulation returns to the European Parliament

By Ante

A few years ago, an amendment making sure that parallel importation was not criminalised in the EU disappeared after it was adopted in the European Parliament. This summer, the Chairman of the International Trade committee (INTA), Mr Vital Moreira, rewrote a question the INTA committee asked the Parliament’s Legal Services regarding ACTA (Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement). The INTA Chairman among others things left out a...

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ACTA: Delicate matter of incompatibility with fundamental rights

By Ante

Letter to the European Parliament Legal Affairs Committee 2 September 2011 Dear Members of the Legal Affairs Committee, A new study on ACTA, commissioned by the Greens/EFA, concludes that ACTA is incompatible with fundamental European human rights instruments and -standards. We believe the Parliament should ask the European Court of Justice an opinion on this delicate issue. Only the Court can decisively resolve...

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Some EU documents on the European Parliament study on ACTA released

By Ante

The European Parliament Register released three documents on the European Parliament INTA Committee commissioned study on ACTA. The “Terms of Reference” document (pdf), dated 15 November 2010, is the most interesting. We noted weaknesses in the EP INTA study on ACTA earlier. Regarding access to medicine, we noted that the study assesses ACTA’s impact on the EU’s domestic market, and assesses how well the...

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European Parliament does not possess Commission’s negotiators’ notes on ACTA

By Ante

The European Parliament Register informed us the Parliament does not possess the EU Commission’s negotiators’ notes on ACTA. This is remarkable. Article 218.10 TFEU reads: “The European Parliament shall be immediately and fully informed at all stages of the procedure.” The negotiators’ notes play a role in interpreting ACTA. The Commission didn’t fully inform the Parliament, if the Register’s information is correct. In March,...

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ACTA, Public Health and Environment

By Ante

The basic problem: low volume – high profit strategies A few years after the ratification of the 1994 WTO TRIPS agreement (Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights), the AIDS epidemic took millions of lives in Africa. Protected by TRIPS, pharmaceutical companies sold AIDS medicine in Africa for prices higher than in the US. They only served a very small part of the...

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The Trade Committee operates like Navy Seals

By Ante

The European Parliament Trade Committee operates as secretive as Navy Seals. In the last year, the Committee commissioned a study and requested a Legal Service opinion on ACTA. While these were official decisions the Committee made, there is no record on this at all. The Legal Affairs Committee (JURI) seems to make a distinction between public minutes and non public coordinators’ notes. The Register...

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Trade Committee not interested in fundamental rights

By Ante

The European Parliament Committee on International Trade requested the Parliament’s Legal Service an opinion on ACTA (pdf). Compared with the request US Senator Wyden made, and seen the European academics Opinion on ACTA, the questions are very narrow. The questions seem carefully designed to minimize damage to ACTA. Senator Wyden has asked in an October 8, 2010 letter that the American Law Division of...

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