An international set of civil society groups today sent a letter to the European Union trade commissioner outlining concerns that the latest, leaked, version of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement under negotiation will introduce “new and unbalanced intellectual property rules” which “would condone overzealous and erroneous enforcement of intellectual property for medicines and thereby pose a danger to public health, while doing little to protect consumers from unsafe products.” Oxfam International, Health Action International (Europe), Knowledge Ecology International, Public Citizen and Vrijschrift endorsed a 29 July letter to Directorate General Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht and his colleagues summarising seven alarming aspects of the most recent ACTA. The groups called upon the officials to conduct an impact assessment of the proposed laws and to be careful in proceeding to negotiate ACTA’s terms.
The civil society letter is available here [pdf].
By Leslee Friedman for Intellectual Property Watch