ACTA draft finally made public
After months of EU pressure, negotiators have released the draft text for the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement.
The treaty is being negotiated by international policymakers and could form the basis of a global intellectual property regime.
However, critics have been concerned that the scope of the treaty is too broad and could affect civil rights on the internet for millions of users.
"We appreciate this step toward transparency, but we're concerned ACTA could rewrite laws that have made the internet a platform for economic growth, creativity and free expression," said internet company Google, following the release of the draft.
Others, particularly copyright owners, welcomed the measures enclosed in the draft. In a statement, the Motion Picture Association of America said the draft "represents a solid building block, an important step forward in the work of like-minded governments to strengthen protection against internet piracy, the fastest growing threat to filmed entertainment and other segments of the copyright industries."
The ACTA was first proposed in October 2007 by the US, European Commission, Switzerland and Japan. Since then, negotiations for the treaty have been conducted behind closed doors by a select group of over 30 countries.
Originally designed to combat cross-border counterfeiting, several leaked ACTA documents raised the pressure to make the negotiations more transparent, particularly as the treaty had grown to include provisions dealing with internet piracy.
In March, the European Parliament voted by an overwhelming majority to adopt a resolution demanding greater transparency in negotiations over the ACTA. MEPs were particularly concerned that the ACTA could impinge on internet laws currently being debated within the EU.
"I am very glad that the EU convinced its partners to release the negotiation text," EU trade commissioner Karel De Gucht said in a statement. "The text makes clear what ACTA is really about: it will provide our industry and creators with better protection in overseas markets, which is essential for business to thrive. It will not have a negative impact on European citizens."
But critics remain sceptical. Gwen Hinze, international director of internet pressure group Electronic Frontier Foundation, said that the ACTA "contains new potential obligations for internet intermediaries, requiring them to police the internet and their users, which in turn pose significant concerns for citizens' privacy, freedom of expression and fair use rights."
Stuart Adams, attorney at law firm Rouse, said: "Generally, it's clear the negotiators are trying to strike a balance between the need to tackle infringements over the internet and the impossibility of ISPs policing in advance everything made available on sites which they host. The balance looks about right, but we won't know until we have a more ‘final' text."
"It's called an Anti Counterfeiting Trade Agreement. It arose out of a desire to do more to tackle the enormous problems posed by counterfeit and pirate goods. But the text clearly risks expanding into fields which encompass just about all types of intellectual property infringement. I don't believe this expansion is necessary or desirable. Worse still it risks completely blunting the impact of the treaty. In my view it would be much better to limit it to the most serious issues - counterfeiting and piracy, define those limited types of infringement, and then focus solely on the special measures required to assist in the enforcement of rights in those narrow fields," said Adams.
So far eight rounds of talks over the ACTA have been held, most recently in New Zealand. The next round is scheduled for the summer and will take place in Switzerland.
