Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Urgent ACTA Communique

Today a communique altering ACTA was released with an endorsement of over 600 public interest orgnisations and individuals. The communique concluded that ACTA is a deficient product of a deeply flawed process. The concerns expressed here cover seven areas: fundamental rights and freedoms; the Internet; access to medicines; scope and nature of IP laws; international trade; international law and institutions; and democratic process.

Unlike the negotiators' assertation [1], the public interest groups reached a conclusion that ACTA would undermine a full enjoyment of fundamental rights and liberties including domestic and internationally protected human rights to health, privacy and the protection of personal data, free expression, education, cultural participation, and right to a fair legal process, including fair trial and presumptions of innocence.

The full text of the communique with the list of endorsement is here.

[1] When the draft text of ACTA was made public, the USTR said that ACTA will not interfere with a signatory’s ability to respect its citizens' fundamental rights and liberties.

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