Concept ACTA verdrag wordt openbaar

 
Concept ACTA verdrag wordt openbaar
De landen die samen over de zogenaamde ACTA onderhandelen, hebben in een gemeenschappelijke verklaring (zie tekst hieronder) aangekondigd dat zij nu zodanig gevorderd zijn met hun besprekingen dat zij het concept van het verdrag later deze week openbaar zullen maken. De ACTA is een verdrag over gemeenschappelijke maatregelen tegen namaak (verspreiding van illegale kopieën van merkproducten) en piraterij (illegale verspreiding van auteursrechtelijk beschermd werk).
De verklaring wijst er op dat het verdrag in overeenstemming zal zijn met de bestaande verdragen en niet zal afdoen aan het respecteren door deelnemende landen van de fundamentele rechten en vrijheden van haar burgers. In tegenstelling tot geruchten is er geen sprake van een verplichting  voor douane om bagage of electronische apparatuur van reizigers te doorzoeken.  Hoewel de deelnemers wel het belang erkennen om tegen Internet piraterij op te treden,  is er geen voorstel dat landen een graduated response of three strike aanpak introduceren. Dat is de aanpak die in Frankrijk en het Verenigd Koninkrijk als wet is aangenomen en als ultieme sanctie voor volhardende inbreukmakende downloaders een tijdelijke afsluiting van de internetverbinding mogelijk maakt.
 
Brussels and Wellington, 16 April 2010
Joint Statement on Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA)
The 8th round of negotiations on the proposed Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) was held in Wellington, New Zealand from 12-16 April 2010, hosted by New Zealand. Participants were welcomed by New Zealands Minister of Trade Hon Tim Groser at a function attended by a wide range of stakeholders with an interest in the ACTA negotiations.
Participants in the negotiations included Australia, Canada, the European Union, represented by the European Commission, the EU Presidency (Spain) and EU Member States, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore, Switzerland and the United States of America.
The Participants had constructive and intensive discussions. They provided a much improved understanding of respective national regimes and how they worked in practice. Based on this understanding, good progress was made toward narrowing existing differences, in the areas of Civil Enforcement, Border Measures, Criminal Enforcement and Special Measures for the Digital Environment. In addition the participants held constructive discussions regarding the scope of intellectual property rights covered in ACTA.
Overall, therefore, there was a general sense from this session that negotiations have now advanced to a point where making a draft text available to the public will help the process of reaching a final agreement. For that reason, and based on the specific momentum coming out of this meeting, participants have reached unanimous agreement that the time is right for making available to the public the consolidated text coming out of these discussions, which will reflect the substantial progress made at this round.
It is intended to release this on Wednesday 21 April.
In agreeing to release publicly this draft text in the particular circumstances of this negotiation, participants reaffirmed the importance of maintaining the confidentiality of their respective positions in trade negotiations.
ACTA will not interfere with a signatorys ability to respect its citizens fundamental rights and liberties, and will be consistent with the WTO Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement) and will respect the Declaration on TRIPS and Public Health.
There is no proposal to oblige ACTA participants to require border authorities to search travellers baggage or their personal electronic devices for infringing materials. In addition, ACTA will not address the cross-border transit of legitimate generic medicines.
While the participants recognise the importance of responding effectively to the challenge of Internet piracy, they confirmed that no participant is proposing to require governments to mandate a graduated response or three strikes approach to copyright infringement on the Internet.
The participants agreed that the next meeting would be hosted by Switzerland in June 2010. They also reaffirmed their commitment to continue their work with the aim of concluding ACTA as soon as possible in 2010.
For further information
http://ec.europa.eu/trade/creating-opportunities/trade-topics/intellectual-property/anti-counterfeiting/