• Home
  • About Us
    • About Us
    • Subscribe
    • Privacy Policy
  • Advertise
    • Advertise On IP Watch
    • Editorial Calendar
  • Videos
  • Links
  • Help

Intellectual Property Watch

Original news and analysis on international IP policy

  • Copyright
  • Patents
  • Trademarks
  • Opinions
  • People News
  • Venues
    • Bilateral/Regional Negotiations
    • ITU/ICANN
    • United Nations – other
    • WHO
    • WIPO
    • WTO/TRIPS
    • Africa
    • Asia/Pacific
    • Europe
    • Latin America/Caribbean
    • North America
  • Themes
    • Access to Knowledge/ Open Innovation & Science
    • Food Security/ Agriculture/ Genetic Resources
    • Finance
    • Health & IP
    • Human Rights
    • Internet Governance/ Digital Economy/ Cyberspace
    • Lobbying
    • Technical Cooperation/ Technology Transfer
  • Health Policy Watch

Governments Must Provide More Transparency In Trade Negotiations, Coalition Says At IGF

19/12/2017 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch 2 Comments

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)

The Internet Governance Forum Dynamic Coalition on Trade and the Internet, a group formed in 2016, held its formal inaugural meeting today and adopted a resolution on transparency in trade negotiations, in particular on trade rules that affect the online and digital environment.

Jeremy Malcolm, Senior Global Policy Analyst at the Electronic Frontier Foundation (left)

The Dynamic Coalition on Trade and the Internet stems from a previous initiative called the Open Trade Digital Trade Network, Jeremy Malcolm, senior global policy analyst at the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), said today at the inaugural session. The Internet Governance Forum (IGF) organised by the United Nations is taking place in Geneva from 17-21 December.

The Resolution on Transparency states principles on transparency and consultation, and provides a list of five recommendations essentially aimed at governments:

“. Countries should publish their own textual proposals on rules in ongoing international trade negotiations at the same time as these proposals are presented to their negotiating partners,

. Countries engaged in trade negotiations should agree to publish consolidated texts after each round of ongoing negotiations,

. Trade ministries should act transparently by publishing records of their meetings with stakeholders, and should be overseen by an independent transparency officer, subject to statutory confidentiality and non-disclosure standards,

. Domestic consultations on textual proposals should be opened up to the public through on-the-record notice and comment, and public hearing processes at relevant points during the development of textual proposals,

. Countries should make trade advisory bodies more balanced by taking proactive steps to include more diverse legitimate stakeholders such as representatives of Internet users, and organisations working in the areas of human rights, development, media, and consumer issues.”

The Dynamic Coalition on Trade and the Internet also published a background paper providing an overview of digital trade frameworks, a description of several plurilateral and mega-regional trade agreements. This includes the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which the document says was the first trade agreement to include binding commitments that facilitate cross-border information flows and limit digital protectionism.

The background paper also addresses a number of issues such as custom duties, intellectual property rights, data exclusivity for test data, the expansion of copyright terms, trade secrets, domain names, and digital rights management.

Malcolm said the Dynamic Coalition on Trade and the Internet fulfilled its original 2017 action plan, including the background paper, and developing a multi-stakeholder approach facilitating the transparency and inclusiveness in international trade negotiations and the domestic consultation processes. Malcolm said the dynamic coalition now has 42 members, but just one government on board.

William Drake, international fellow and lecturer in the Institute of Mass Communication and Media Research at the University of Zurich, speaking from the audience said the Dynamic Coalition on Trade and the Internet needs to reach more players, such as people from the internet technical and business communities.

In the audience, a World Trade Organization representative said the WTO is doing a lot to be more transparent. Many governments now ask that the papers they table are made public documents. WTO technical assistance also finds that there are multi-stakeholder groups in capital that are consulted for negotiations, she said. But meetings of WTO members remain closed to civil society, the private sector, media, and even some other international organisations, unlike at neighboring international organisations like the World Intellectual Property Organization or the World Health Organization.

 

Image Credits: Catherine Saez

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)

Related

Catherine Saez may be reached at csaez@ip-watch.ch.

Creative Commons License"Governments Must Provide More Transparency In Trade Negotiations, Coalition Says At IGF" by Intellectual Property Watch is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Filed Under: IP Policies, Language, Themes, Venues, Access to Knowledge/ Education, Bilateral/Regional Negotiations, Copyright Policy, English, Human Rights, ITU/ICANN, Information and Communications Technology/ Broadcasting, Lobbying, Trademarks/Geographical Indications/Domains, WTO/TRIPS

Trackbacks

  1. Internet Governance Forum - An Encyclopaedic Endeavour - Intellectual Property Watch says:
    27/12/2017 at 3:23 pm

    […] There are a growing number of aspirants for taking on e-commerce/digital trade talks. With the e-commerce negotiations at the World Trade Organization not being promoted to “working party”-level and a group of 71 members going off for a plurilateral negotiation, there was broad consensus at the IGF 2017 that such a “club” was the worst option. Both an initiative by the World Economic Forum talking digital trade, and the new IGF Dynamic Coalition on Digital Trade, called for multi-stakeholder formats to at least bring the trade and digital expert communities together. The Dynamic Coalition in their inaugural session agreed on a resolution calling for more transparency in trade talks (link to our story). https://www.ip-watch.org/2017/12/19/governments-must-provide-transparency-trade-negotiations-coaliti… […]

    Reply
  2. Sedm způsobů, jak v roce 2018 zachránit snahy o reformu autorského práva EU a další novinky ze světa OER | Otevřené vzdělávání says:
    29/01/2018 at 10:07 pm

    […] https://www.ip-watch.org/2017/12/19/governments-must-provide-transparency-trade-negotiations-coaliti… […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • Vimeo
My Tweets

IPW News Briefs

Saudis Seek Alternative Energy Partners Through WIPO Green Program

Chinese IP Officials Complete Study Of UK, European IP Law

Perspectives on the US

In US, No Remedies For Growing IP Infringements

US IP Law – Big Developments On The Horizon In 2019

More perspectives on the US...

Supported Series: Civil Society And TRIPS Flexibilities

Civil Society And TRIPS Flexibilities Series – Translations Now Available

The Myth Of IP Incentives For All Nations – Q&A With Carlos Correa

Read the TRIPS flexibilities series...

Paid Content

Interview With Peter Vanderheyden, CEO Of Article One Partners

More paid content...

IP Delegates in Geneva

  • IP Delegates in Geneva
  • Guide to Geneva-based Public Health and IP Organisations

All Story Categories

Other Languages

  • Français
  • Español
  • 中文
  • اللغة العربية

Archives

  • Archives
  • Monthly Reporter

Staff Access

  • Writers

Sign up for free news alerts

This site uses cookies to help give you the best experience on our website. Cookies enable us to collect information that helps us personalise your experience and improve the functionality and performance of our site. By continuing to read our website, we assume you agree to this, otherwise you can adjust your browser settings. Please read our cookie and Privacy Policy. Our Cookies and Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2022 · Global Policy Reporting

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.