[Infowarrior] - European ACTA Document Leaks With New Details

[Richard Forno]

http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/4795/125/

European ACTA Document Leaks With New Details on Mexico Talks and  
Future Meetings

Wednesday February 17, 2010

A brief report from the European Commission authored by Pedro Velasco  
Martins (an EU negotiator) on the most recent round of ACTA  
negotiations in Guadalajara, Mexico has leaked, providing new  
information on the substance of the talks, how countries are  
addressing the transparency concerns, and plans for future  
negotiations.  The document (cover page, document) notes that the  
Mexico talks were a "long meeting with detailed technical discussions,  
which allowed progress, but parties not yet ready for major  
concessions. Due to lack of time, internet discussions could not be  
concluded."

Start first with plans for future talks.  Round 8 of the ACTA  
negotiations, which will be held in Wellington, New Zealand, are  
apparently now scheduled for April 12 to 16th.  Countries plan a five- 
day round - the longest yet - with detailed discussions on the  
Internet provisions, civil enforcement, border measures, and penal  
provisions.  Moreover, Round 9 will take place in Geneva, possibly  
during the week of June 7th.  This aggressive negotiation schedule -  
three rounds of talks in six months - points to the pressure to  
conclude ACTA in 2010.

Secondly, transparency. The leaked document reveals that the summary  
document on ACTA is currently being updated by Canada and Switzerland,  
with release likely in March.  The new document will deny rumours  
about iPod searching border guards and mandatory three strikes  
policies.  There is no agreement about releasing the ACTA text,  
however (though more European Union members states favour its  
release).  New Zealand is considering a stakeholder meeting during the  
next round in April as part of the transparency effort.

Third, the substance of the talks.  The three main areas of  
substantive discussion were civil enforcement, border measures (called  
customs by the EC), and the Internet provisions.  The Commission  
document states:

1. The civil enforcement chapter was discussed very thoroughly. It was  
possible to agree additional language, but when entering into the  
detail of the different mechanisms (provisional measures, injunctions,  
calculation of damages) progress became slow due to the different  
technical concepts of each legal system.

2. The customs chapter was discussed in detail for the first time in  
more than one year. Good progress on items like exemptions for  
personal luggage (a sensitive issue in the public opinion). EU  
proposing a more organised and logical structure of the chapter, not  
always well understood by others.

3. The internet chapter was discussed for the first time on the basis  
of comments provided by most parties to US proposal. The second half  
of the text (technological protection measures) was not discussed due  
to lack of time. Discussions still focus on clarification of different  
technical concepts, therefore, there was not much progress in terms of  
common text. US and EU agreed to make presentations of their own  
systems at the next round, to clarify issues.

Leaving aside the more personal comments (ie. others do not understand  
the border measures chapter structure), the leaked document is  
precisely what the negotiating countries should be providing to the  
public in the absence of an actual text.  Rather than the mundane  
meeting statement that says nothing, this brief report includes far  
more detail on the substance of the talks and the plans for the future.