ACTA News

Last week I blogged about internal Canadian documents that indicate support for greater ACTA transparency.  Now the pressure is building elsewhere, as the U.S. Trade Representative Office has promised to conduct a review of policies and Swedish politicians are voicing their support for greater openness.

The U.S. government has denied a freedom of information act request for several Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement documents, invoking a clause that says that the documents are protected as national security secrets. The provision applies in cases where there could be "damage to the national security and the original classification authority is able to identify or describe the damage." The content of the documents has been reported here and here.

Negotiations on the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement resume next month in Morocco, but as the discussions drag on, details on the proposed treaty are beginning to emerge.  Obtaining information through official channels such as Freedom of Information requests has been very difficult; however, there is little doubt that lobby groups have been privy to inside information and so reliable sources have begun to sketch a fairly detailed outline of the proposed treaty.

The Department of Foreign Affairs has issued a release that provides an update on the most recent round of ACTA negotiations (the release will be mirrored by other countries).  It reports that governments met last week in Paris to continue ACTA negotiations.  In addition to the three issues addressed at earlier meetings (international cooperation, enforcement practices and institutional issues, as well as criminal enforcement), Internet issues were now added to the mix.