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"Transparency" gets a few minutes at new ACTA negotiations
By Nate Anderson | Last updated January 26, 2010 2:15 PM
Negotiations on the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) pick up again today in Guadalajara, Mexico, and run through Friday. The governments who are working on the treaty have long claimed to be interested in "transparency" (despite offering little of it), and this week's negotiating session shows just how important openness has become: discussions on "transparency" get one hour on the final day of the session, and are the last thing on the schedule apart from "other matters" and "press release."
Today is reserved for discussion about ACTA's "civil enforcement" provisions. "Border measures" come up tomorrow. Thursday promises to be interesting, what with its "Enforcement Procedures in the Digital Environment" topic.
Each of these major topics has an entire day of negotiation and discussion, while "transparency" is shoved into Friday's half-day schedule just before everyone jets home. Who knows how much of the hour will even be devoted to the topic, though; the agenda notes that the transparency hour will first feature "continued discussion on previous matters if needed."
Still, at least it's on the agenda. After more than a year of carping by journalists, civil society groups, digital activists, the European Parliament, prominent members of the US government, and even the MPAA, the ACTA nations are at least discussing the issue. Given the late stage of the ACTA negotiations, it's unclear what "transparency" could really mean at this point; negotiators have always expressed a willingness to show the public a draft of the text once it has all been finalized, though this would be far too late to make substantive changes.
If they talk about transparency for too much longer, they might not need to engage in any. Maybe that's the point.
Further reading
[URL=http://www.mfat.govt.nz/Trade-and-Economic-Relations/Trade-Agreements/Anti-Counterfeiting/0-ACTAagendaroundseven.php]* ACTA schedule (mfat.govt.nz)[/URL]
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[url]http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2010/01/transparency-gets-a-few-minutes-at-new-acta-negotiations.ars[/url]
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A bit late eh?