Close Comparison Reveals Negotiators Repeating TPP's Mistakes A secretive trade agreement currently being negotiated behind closed doors could lay down new, inflexible copyright standards across the Asia-Pacific region. If you are thinking of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), think again—we're...
"RCEP fails to improve much on the TPP in areas where it quite easily could; most notably in the language on limitations and exceptions, which fails to require countries to include an equivalent to fair use in their copyright laws.
Finally, the proposed language on related rights for broadcasters is actually worse than the TPP. The TPP negotiators were wise to mostly avoid this topic, being that it is currently still under negotiation at WIPO, whereas RCEP has plunged ahead and sought to enshrine obligations for the protection of broadcasters that remain controversial and untested around the world.
Worst of all is that none of these problems would have come to light if the text of the agreement had not been leaked. Like the TPP before it, the RCEP is being negotiated in a secretive fashion, behind closed doors, without adequate input from Internet users or any other of the stakeholders whose lives and livelihoods it will affect. "
Professor Drahos: "So farmers, librarians, educators, cultural innovators, young people who want to culturally innovate, who want to parody for example a trade mark and suddenly find themselves threatened become theyre making fun of somebody. I mean there are so many people that have an interest in this. We live in a networked world. I see more and more networking amongst NGOs. I think there is a growing sense in which we have to realize we are not alone. That we can fight back."
European Trade Commissioner, Cecilia Malmström has made a bad choice in appointing Jan Eric Frydman as Special Adviser on EU-US Trade Policy. Frydman, whose ongoing work for Swedish law firm Ekenberg & Andersson creates potential conflicts of interest, has a strong pro-ISDS background and a tricky revolving door history. He's part of the problem, not the solution.
In sum the draft confirms the will to impose greater regulatory "convergence" and "harmonization" of future regulations between the EU and the US in the only interest of transnational corporations and the financial industry. The vagueness of the draft would allow the Commission great freedom to achieve this. Social, labour and environmental rights in both sides of the Atlantic are under fire.
EurActiv 10 janvier 2014 Lors d'un débat au Sénat, l'ensemble des partis a émis de vives critiques à l'encontre du Partenariat Transatlantique en négociation avec les Etats-Unis. La ministre en charge du Commerce extérieure, Nicole Bricq, le souligne non sans dépit. C'est surtout en France que l'on constate une mobilisation sur ce que les français appellent le « traité » transatlantique. Chevènement: "On ne peut pas parler de libre-échange lors les parités passent de 1 à 2 entre l'euro et le dollar en l'espace d'une décennie seulement " Marie-Noëlle Lienemann, sénatrice PS: "« Je suis très hostile à ce traité » a d’emblée prévenu l’ex-député européenne. « Force est de constater que la mondialisation heureuse n'a pas eu lieu ! Nous sommes dans une logique où les firmes multinationales ne sont pas dans une situation que nous pouvons réguler a-t-elle indiqué.
Phillip Dorling, Sidney Morning Herald , Nov 14, : "WikiLeaks has exposed details of secret trade negotiations that could leave Australians paying more for drugs and medicines, movies, computer games and software, and be placed under surveillance as part of a US-led crackdown on internet piracy."