[Chapter-delegates] Further update on ACTA

[Christine Runnegar]

Hi all.

Here is a further update on ACTA. 

DRAFT ACTA TO BE RELEASED ON 21 APRIL 2010

The 8th round of negotiations in New Zealand were completed last week.

On Friday, the participants to the ACTA negotiations released a joint
statement stating that they would make a consolidated draft of the text
available to the public on 21 April 2010. (See:
http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/10/437&format=HTM
L&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en)

PUBLICACTA and THE WELLINGTON DECLARATION

Video from PublicACTA on 10 April 2010 is available (see:
http://www.r2.co.nz/20100410)

The participants at PublicACTA produced a document entitled "The Wellington
Declaration" (see: http://publicacta.org.nz/wellington-declaration).

The declaration has been offered for others to sign.  A copy of the
declaration and details of the individuals who had signed the petition was
submitted to the ACTA negotiators on 13 April 2010. Anyone who would like to
show their support for this declaration can still sign the petition via this
site: http://www.gopetition.com/online/35443/sign.html. 
 
ISOC's executive team has discussed the Wellington Declaration, as well as
the closed nature of the ACTA negotiations to date, and have decided not to
sign as
an organisation at this time. The submissions made to the EC and NZ
consultations in March, are very similar to Part 1 of the Declaration.(see:
http://www.isoc.org/pubpolpillar/issues/acta.shtml)
 
The text in Part 2 of the Declaration goes into the text of the presently
still-closed ACTA in much more detail.  Many of the topics are outside of
the scope of ISOC's current activities, and we feel that the organisation
needs to discuss many of those topics in more detail before we support
others' positions.

While that is true for ISOC as an organisation overall, we recognise that
some of you from our Chapters and Members may be more engaged in these
issues yourselves, and so may want to sign the Wellington Declaration in
full.  We would encourage you to do so in that case.
 
We will continue to follow developments closely, and would appreciate
hearing your views on the topics addressed as the ACTA text becomes more
publicly available.

Best regards,
Christine
______________________

Christine Runnegar
Senior Manager Public Policy
Internet Society
Galerie Jean-Malbuisson 15
CH-1204 Geneva
Switzerland

Tel: +41 22 807 1455
www.isoc.org