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Canada's ACTA Briefing, Part Two: The Treaty Provisions

By Michael Geist

The ACTA briefing included a look at the treaty to date that effectively confirmed the substance of many of the leaks online.  They plan to post the powerpoint slides used for the presentation, but the key points on substance:

• confirmed the six chapters in the treaty
• indicated that there is no draft language for the initial provisions and definitions
• confirmed the four sections in the legal framework (civil enforcement, border measures, criminal enforcement, Internet issues).  Reviewed the draft provisions in the first three sections and indicated that the fourth chapter on Internet issues remains subject to an information gathering exercise based on the U.S. non-paper
• indicated that the international cooperation chapter will focus on consistency with privacy rules, sharing information, exchanging statistical data, and capacity building
• indicated that the enforcement practices includes data collection, international coordination, measures to target shipments, and public awareness
• confirmed that Canada is the lead on institutional arrangements including the prospect of a Secretariat or Oversight Committee
• confirmed that the Final provisions chapter will open the door to new countries joining ACTA in the future

Officials also noted ongoing discussion on the scope of the treaty.  Canada favours limiting ACTA to trademark and copyright issues.  Other countries would apparently like to extend to other intellectual property rights.

Full post as published by Michael Geist on April 06, 2009 (boomark / email).