Last week I wrote that the trade agreement with Singapore will be secret until it enters into force. The statement was based on an email from EU Trade Spokesperson John Clancy. It turns out this is not correct, the text will be published before the summer. When I first contacted Mr Clancy, the FFII email server was down. I used a personal email address....
Update: Text of trade agreement with Singapore will be published before the summer ========================================================== (FFII press release) Text also below: Brussels, 12 April 2013 — The EU Commission decided to keep the trade agreement with Singapore secret until it enters into force. With this decision the Commission betrays European citizens and democracy, according to the Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure (FFII). In December...
Inside U.S. Trade obtained the draft EU mandate for the EU – US trade agreement (TTIP / TAFTA) (pdf), this is the proposal the Commission sent to the Council for a mandate to start the negotiations. I note 6 issues here. Copyright and patents The agreement will include intellectual property rights. This is wrong, as there is a deep divide in our societies over...
Seven members of the European Parliament (Greens/EFA) asked the Commission a question on the proposed EU-US trade agreement. The EU is obliged to respect, protect and fulfil the human rights enshrined in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). The EU’s obligation results from the constitutional traditions common to the Member States (Article 6(3) TEU), since all EU member states have...
The General Court of the European Court of Justice gave a judgment in Case T‑301/10, In ‘t Veld against European Commission about transparency of ACTA documents, 19 March 2013. The Court upholds the secrecy in general, and only finds regarding a few documents that the secrecy was wrong. The Court considers “that public participation in the procedure relating to the negotiation and the conclusion...
Today, more than 35 European and United States civil society organisations released this declaration: IP OUT OF TAFTA Last year, millions of Americans told their government not to undermine the open internet. We sent the SOPA and PIPA bills down to defeat. Soon after, hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets of Europe to protest against ACTA, a secretive trade agreement that...
March 12, 2013. US President Barack Obama discusses foreign trade including TTIP with the members of its export council.
Yesterday the European Parliament voted on a non-binding report on eliminating gender stereotypes in the EU. EDRi wrote the draft resolution supported “a ban on ‘all forms of pornography’ (paragraph 17), with online policing being done by private companies (paragraph 14)”. See EDRi’s excellent post for the background. The Parliament rejected paragraph 14 about online policing being done by private companies. The Parliament rejected...
