ACTA Consultations in Canada

This week UAEM was invited along with Doctors Without Borders/MSF and Oxfam to participate in Canadian government consultations on the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA). ACTA is has been highly controversial due to the secrecy with which it has been negotiated and the lack of clarity of the intentions of the negotiating parties. You can read more about the controversy here.

Today, UAEM along with Knowledge Ecology International and the Electronic Frontier Foundation made a submission to the Canadian government on the future of the ACTA negotiations which can be read below.

Consultations and Liaison Division (BSL)
Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA)
Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada
Lester B. Pearson Building
125 Sussex Drive
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0G2
E-mail: consultations@international.gc.ca
Fax: 613-944-7981

SENT BY EMAIL AND FAX
July 2, 2009
Subject: Public comments on ACTA negotiations—TACD resolution on IPR Enforcement

Dear Sir or Madam:

Knowledge Ecology International (KEI), Universities Allied for Essential Medicines (UAEM) and Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) are submitting the recent Trans-Atlantic Consumer Dialogue (TACD) resolution on enforcement of copyright, trademarks, patents and other intellectual property rights as public comment on the proposed Anti-counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA).

The TACD resolution was prepared by an organization representing 80 U.S. and European consumer groups that advise US and EU policy makers. The topics in the TACD resolution are relevant to Canadian policies on the enforcement of intellectual property rights, including the ACTA negotiations, including but not limited to section 3(b) of the resolution.

UAEM is an international organization with strong Canadian representation at Canadian universities and in our international leadership. KEI is an international organization with Canadian representation on its board of directors. EFF is an international civil liberties organization operating Online Rights Canada (www.http://onlinerights.ca/) in partnership with CIPPIC, the Samuelson-Glushko Canadian Internet Policy & Public Interest Clinic of the University of Ottawa's Faculty of Law, and has Canadian representation on its board and advisory board.

We thank you for the opportunity to share this resolution in this public consultation.

Sincerely,

James Love, Director, Knowledge Ecology International

Rachel Kiddell-Monroe, President of Board, Universities Allied for Essential Medicines

Gwen Hinze, International Policy Director, Electronic Frontier Foundation

Read the TACD resolution