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Europe Daily Bulletin No. 10210
GENERAL NEWS / (eu) ep/trade

De Gucht says EU will not sacrifice its acquis in ACTA talks

Strasbourg, 08/09/2010 (Agence Europe) - The EU will review its involvement in the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), which it has been negotiating with Australia, Canada, Japan, Jordan, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Switzerland, the United Arab Emirates and the United States since 2007, if, in the final analysis, it achieves an agreement with little added value, European Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht promised the European Parliament (EP) in Strasbourg on Wednesday 8 September. With MEPs still holding distinct reservations over whether ACTA complies with respect for citizens' rights and fundamental freedoms, internet neutrality and the free movement of generic medicines, De Gucht gave new guarantees. ACTA will target intellectual property law infringements, not check travellers' laptop computers or harass consumers. Current European intellectual property law will be maintained, the aim being to build international copyright standards in line, the Commission states, with the acquis communautaire. Furthermore, ACTA will not prevent access to generic medicine. With the 10th round of negotiations having taken place in Washington in mid-August, the commissioner spoke of limited progress in the chapters on civil and criminal enforcement and on the general chapters of the agreement, and a “step backwards” on the controversial chapter on the internet. He promised that he would be intractable on the chapter on geographic indications, which the EU wants included in the agreement. (E.H./transl.rt)

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