Τετάρτη 17 Οκτωβρίου 2012

Canada-EU Trade Agreement Replicates ACTA’s Notorious Copyright Provisions

October 13, 2012 | By Carolina Rossini

Canada-EU Trade Agreement Replicates ACTA’s Notorious Copyright Provisions

The shadow of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) is back in Europe. 

It is disguised as CETA, the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement between Canada and the European Union. As reported by EDRI, a rather strange and surprising e-mail was sent this summer from the General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union to the Member States and the European Commission. 

The e-mail explained that the criminal sanctions provisions of the draft CETA are modeled on those in ACTA.
 La Quadrature du Net
  Source: La Quadrature du Net

A comparison of the leaked draft Canada-EU agreement shows the treaty includes a number of the same controversial provisions, specifically concerning criminal enforcement, private enforcement by Internet Service Providers (ISPs), and harsh damages. 

These provisions are particularly problematic, and were the key reasons why the European Parliament rejected ACTA. 

However, given the lack of transparency associated with the CETA discussions (both Canada and EU insist that the draft text remain secret), the concerns that CETA may replicate ACTA appear to be very real despite denials from some members of the European Commission.

CETA is a trade agreement designed to strengthen economic ties between Canada and the EU through “free” trade and increased investment. 

However, hidden within this treaty are provisions that were essentially lifted from ACTA word-for-word. 

And just like its close cousins, ACTA, KORUS, and TPP—and other trade agreements that are applauded by the entertainment industry for carrying expansive intellectual property provisions—CETA is being negotiated in secret. Jérémie Zimmermann declared:
The only hard evidence on which we can base our analysis suggests the worst: once again, the European Commission and the EU Member States governments are trying to impose repressive measures against cultural practices online. (…)
This trend of sneaking repressive measures through negotiated trade agreements must stop.
This cut-and-paste strategy was confirmed yesterday by La Quadrature du Net, which had representatives present in a workshop on October 10th, where Philipp Dupuis, the European Commission negotiator, bragged that ACTA-like criminal sanctions were still in the CETA draft. 

Following the workshop, La Quadrature du Net sent letters to Mr Pierre Moscovici, Minister for Economic Affairs and Finance, requesting clarifications and demanding that the criminal measures be removed from CETA.

The 92% of the European Union Parliament who voted against ACTA in July 2012 demonstrated that the EU was overwhelmingly against provisions like this, and many expected that it would be the end of the matter. Sadly, that assumption appears to have been unfounded. 

Despite this there are encouraging signs of resistance—including that the Dutch government has stated that it would not accept CETA moving forward this way.

Civil society, which has mobilized and filled streets of France, Poland, and others, is calling on citizens to demand that their governments remove copyright provisions from CETA during the upcoming round of negotiations next week in Brussels.

The Consolidation of Policy Laundering and Increasing Secrecy in International Negotiations

The copyright lobbies have consolidated on the use of foreign and international forums as an indirect means of pushing policies—a strategy known as policy laundering—like those ones in CETA that might never win direct approval through the regular domestic political. 

The move from fora like the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) or the World Trade Organization (WTO) to bilateral and regional trade agreements confirms it. 

Policy laundering takes advantage of the fact that the institutions nations have created for ensuring democratic control and input into the bureaucratic policymaking process have not yet been instituted into most international bodies and negotiation venues. 

And of course, the entertainment lobby applauds this. 

It is well known for instance, that provisions of the US DMCA were the result of policy laundering. 

This should not be the way we build 21st century agreements.

International negotiations are abstract and it’s hard to see how they may eventually affect one's life. 

When a trade agreement or treaty is signed by a country and later ratified however, it does manifest itself into national law. 

Therefore, the time to act is from the very beginning of such initiatives, not later. 

Secrecy around negotiations is not democratic, violates the open government principles many of the negotiating countries have signed onto, and purposefully makes taking action much more difficult.

Secrecy impacts civil society’s ability to comment or analyze agreements, just as it does with the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement (TPP) and other FTAs. 

It’s hard enough to work within the participation system at places like WIPO, but at least there we are given some opportunity to observe and participate in the official discussions. 

When trade negotiators and copyright maximalists get together to launder IP rights expansion through secret agreements, we lose that small but vital voice that lets us speak truth to power.

~
Additional Resources:

Europe: La Quadrature du Net: http://www.laquadrature.net/en/CETA

Europe: EDRI http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number10.17/ceta-acta-criminal-sanctions

Canada: Michael Geist blog on ACTA http://www.michaelgeist.ca/index.php?option=com_tags&task=view&tag=acta&Itemid=408

World Food Day observed in 150 countries

Agricultural cooperatives critical to fight hunger

16 October 2012, Rome -Agricultural cooperatives, already enriching millions of small-scale farmers, could expand and make an even greater contribution against poverty and hunger, if they were given the right support by governments, 
civil society and academia.

That is the key message of this year's World Food Day, observed today in 150 countries. 

The theme this year focuses on 
"Agricultural cooperatives - key to feeding the world" 
and coincides with the International Year of Cooperatives. 
World Food Day also commemorates the date when FAO was founded in 1945.

The fight against hunger was given new impetus last week with the release of figures showing that, despite there being 132 million fewer hungry people in the world compared to 20 years ago, there are still nearly 870 million people who go without enough food every day,

WFD ceremony

Pope Benedict XVI said in a message for World Food Day that given the human dimension, agricultural cooperatives are able to favour economic development that meet the most pressing local needs.

"Agricultural cooperatives have an alternative vision to those economic models that seem to have as their only goals, profit, the interests of the markets, the use of food crops for non-food purposes and the introduction of new food production technologies without the necessary precautions," 

the Pope said.

"The presence of cooperatives can put an end to the trend of speculation in essential food commodities intended for human consumption, and reduce the large-scale acquisition of arable lands that in many regions forces farmers off their land because by themselves they are too weak to defend their rights," 

he said.

The Pope's message was read by Archbishop Luigi Travaglino at a ceremony at FAO headquarters attended by dignitaries, heads of Rome-based UN agencies and special guests.

Appeal to governments

FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva emphasized the need to work for the total eradication of hunger, adding that many countries, in South America, Africa and Asia, are proving that it is possible.

Graziano da Silva threw his weight behind cooperatives as a major way to lift small-scale farmers out of poverty and hunger. 

Although they produce most of the food in many countries, he said small-scale farmers had poor access to markets to sell their products, lack of bargaining power to buy inputs at better prices and a lack of access to financial services.

"Agricultural cooperatives can help smallholders overcome these constraints," 

he said. 
"Cooperatives play a crucial role in generating employment, reducing poverty, and improving food security, and contributing to the gross domestic product in many countries."

The FAO chief urged governments to do their part and "create conditions that allow producer organizations and cooperatives to thrive".

Message from UN Secretary-General

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a messge to World Food Day that agricultural cooperatives would be crucial in meeting the Zero Hunger Challenge that he launched at the Rio+20 UN Conference on Sustainable Development in June.

"The great expertise of agricultural cooperatives will be invaluable in achieving one of the initiative's primary aims: doubling the income and productivity of smallholder farmers," 

he said.

Italian president's message

Italian president Giorgio Napolitano said in a message to the ceremony that 

“co-operatives are able to preserve levels of profit and employment even at times of economic recession. 
They may therefore represent for economic actors and policy makers the model to inspire future decisions, rethinking economic development in a more sustainable manner that puts the human being again at the heart of any economic process.”

"Co-operatives … are also a stimulus for democracy, as demonstrated by their ability to encourage participation, respect for rules and aggregation of members around common values,"  

Napolitano said.

IFAD and cooperatives

President Kanayo F. Nwanze of the International Fund on Agricultural Development told the ceremony that the Fund works closely with cooperatives worldwide.

"From tea growers in Rwanda to livestock resource centres in Nepal, there are many examples of how cooperatives better support smallholder farmers to not only organize themselves, but to collectively increase their opportunities and resources," 

he said.

"Our experience at IFAD working with farmers has proven time and time again that cooperatives are critical to reach these objectives," he said. 

"This is why we place a lot of emphasis on cooperatives and continue to enhance our work with them."

WFP chief on hunger

In her address, the World Food Programme Executive Director Ertharin Cousin spoke on the need for social safety nets for those who could barely feed themselves.

"In our world, too many still struggle to find their next meal. Social protection and safety net programmes enable the most vulnerable, particularly women and children, to lift themselves out of hunger and poverty," 

she said. 
"These programmes provide a cushion that is otherwise unavailable and build resilience against economic and environmental shocks."
Press release FAO