Brussels, 02/07/2010 (Agence Europe) - Negotiators from the parties to the heavily criticised Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) - Australia, Canada, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore, Switzerland, South Korea, the United States and the European Union - meeting in Lucerne from 28 June to 1 July, made further progress towards a definitive agreement before the end of the year.
On the first day of this 9th round of talks, the Swiss government hosted meetings between negotiators and representatives of civil society, thereby bringing transparency promised by the parties a t the previous round of talks in Wellington in April (see EYUROPE 10120). Based on the consolidated text published on 21 April (see EUROPE 10123), negotiators made progress in building consensus in a number of areas, including Initial Provisions, General Obligations, Civil Enforcement, Border Measures, Criminal Enforcement, Enforcement Measures in the Digital Environment, International Cooperation and Institutional Arrangements. Discussions on the scope of intellectual property rights covered in ACTA provided an improved understanding of the respective views on that issue.
Negotiators stressed the importance of ACTA as an agreement that will establish an international framework for their efforts to combat more effectively the proliferation of counterfeiting and piracy, which undermine legitimate trade and the sustainable development of the world economy. It was also restated that, while ACTA seeks to establish effective enforcement standards for existing intellectual property rights, it is not intended to include new intellectual property rights or to enlarge or diminish existing intellectual property rights. ACTA will not interfere with any signatory's ability to respect fundamental rights and liberties, state the negotiators in a press release published by the European Commission. ACTA will be consistent with the WTO Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement) and the Declaration on TRIPS and Public Health, the press release goes on. Negotiators state that ACTA will not hinder the cross-border transit of legitimate generic medicines and reaffirmed that patents will not be covered in the section on Border Measures. They also repeated that ACTA will not oblige border authorities to search travellers' baggage or their personal electronic devices.
Negotiators, who are hoping for a definitive agreement by the end of this year, will meet again in the United States at a date yet to be decided.
“The European Parliament will reject ACTA if necessary,” Castex promises
After leading the clamour against the lack of transparency in the ACTA negotiations and warning of possible European Parliament (EP) objections to the content of the agreement (see EUROPE 10085) alongside her colleagues Stavros Lambrinidis (S&D, Greece), Alexander Alvaro (ALDE, Germany) and Zuzana Roithova (EPP, Czech Republic), Françoise Castex (S&D, France) once again gave warning on Friday 2 July that the EP could reject the agreement. “Parliament is not prepared to approve the agreement in its current form. The Commission and the Council have to get Parliament's assent at the end of negotiations, and Parliament will not agree to any lessening of the acquis communautaire. Under the terms of the resolution that was adopted, Parliament retains the right to refer the matter to the Court of Justice of the EU to protect its prerogatives,” Castex warned in a press release. “I remain wary of this text which could affect access to medicines, freedom of expression, internet neutrality and the legal liability of its intermediaries. We will protect the individual freedoms of our fellow citizens by rejecting ACTA if necessary!” she said. (E.H./transl.rt)