[Ip-health] NGO Letter to USTR on transparency: 21 Specific Recommendations

[Malini Aisola]

http://www.keionline.org/content/view/246/1/

NGO Letter to USTR on transparency
Thursday, 23 July 2009

On July 22, 2009, eight public interest, consumer and public health
organizations wrote to the United States Trade Representative (USTR),
recommending the USTR and other federal agencies reduce secrecy and
increase transparency in negotiations that involve global norms for
knowledge governance.  The eight organizations were:

    Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)
    Essential Action
    Knowledge Ecology International (KEI)
    Public Knowledge
    Salud y F=C3=A3rmacos
    Trans Atlantic Consumer Dialogue (TACD)
    Universities Allied for Essential Medicines (UAEM)
    U.S. PIRG

The groups submission to the USTR involves an eight page discussion of
21 specific recommendations, plus three attachments that describe
transparency norms in a variety of multilateral and plurilateral norm
setting fora.

The recomendations to USTR are a product of a consultation with USTR on
transparency that began on March 19, and included more recently, a
meeting between USTR and more than a dozen NGOs on July 13, 2009.

One major area of concern are the negotiations on the
Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), which are now being
conducted in secret.

The recommendations go beyond ACTA, to address the transparency of all
USTR negotiations that concern the setting of global norms for knowledge
governance. The recommendations cover the following topics:

* Disclosure of documents in negotiations (Recommendations 1-8, 15)
* Public participation and NGO accreditation at meetings (Recommendation
9)
* Public consultations (Recommendations 10-12)
* Agency obligations to to disclose Negotiation Objectives and undertake
and report assessments of the impacts of the proposed norms.
(Recommendations 13-14)
* Proactive disclosures of information about USTR operations
(Recommendations 16-18)
* Advisory bodies (Recommendations 19-21)

Links to the July 22 2009 NGO letter and attachments:

Transparency in Negotiations Involving Norms for Knowledge Good: What
Should USTR Do? 21 Specific Recommendations
http://www.keionline.org/misc-docs/4/ustr_transparency_asks_22jul2009_final=
.pdf

ATTACHMENT 1.  ACTA is secret.  How transparent are other other global
norm setting exercises?
http://www.keionline.org/misc-docs/4/attachment1_transparency_ustr.pdf

ATTACHMENT 2.  Transparency of negotiating documents in selected fora
http://www.keionline.org/misc-docs/4/attachment2_transparency_ustr.pdf

ATTACHMENT 3.  Participation by the public in selected negotiations
http://www.keionline.org/misc-docs/4/attachment3_transparency_ustr.pdf


Comments on the NGO letter:

Robert Weissman, director, Essential Action
"The Obama administration promised a new era of transparency, but we
haven't seen meaningful changes at the Obama USTR. When the agency
denies Freedom of Information Act requests for trade proposals that it
has shared with other country negotiators -- and has made available to
hundreds of corporate lobbyists serving on official advisory committees
-- this is business as usual, not change we can believe in. The civil
society proposals for transparency aim to close the information gap
between citizens and public interest groups on the one hand, and
corpoate insider lobbyists on the other."

Gwen Hinze, EFF
"Transparency is the foundation stone for balanced policy making.
Leaked documents show that ACTA could lead to new invasive monitoring of
Internet communications by ISPs and raise serious potential due process
concerns for Internet users. Because ACTA is to be adopted in the US as
an Executive Agreement, it will bypass normal processes of Congressional
oversight. Therefore, it is crucial that citizens have access to
information about its contents in a timely manner."

Ed Mierzwinski, U.S. Public Interest Research Group
"Open government processes lead to better government decisions on behalf
of the many. Closed rooms and secret documents benefit only the few and
powerful corporations whose battalions of lobbyists prefer to
influence-peddle in the dark."

Ethan Guillen, Universities Allied for Essential Medicines (UAEM)
"For too long we have allowed important international policy affecting
access to medicines and many other related knowledge goods to be decided
in secret.  Transparency is key to governance in the United States at
all levels and it is time for the USTR to live up to the lofty promises
of openness made by the Obama administration.  We hope that under the
leadership of Ambassador Kirk, USTR will bring the basic principles of
participatory democracy - transparency chief among them - to
international trade negotiations."

Malini Aisola, Knowledge Ecology International (KEI)
"The policy on transparency under the USTR needs revision in alignment
with not just the directions of but more importantly the spirit, of
President Obama's call for transparency and open government.  It is a
disservice to the citizens of the United States and those of our trading
partners, to be kept in the dark about negotiations that will heavily
impact their lives and determine their access to essential knowledge
goods."

Meredith Filak, Trans Atlantic Consumer Dialogue
"People who are expected to obey and live under rules, and whose lives
can be changed by rules, should have every opportunity to watch and
influence the making of those rules.  There should be an open public
debate.  There should be transparency, and openness.  We don't have that
now.  We are asking the Obama Administration to change the old policy,
and make things better."

James Love, Knowledge Ecology International (KEI)
"USTR has encouraged the public to make a case for openness, and to
offer concrete suggestions about how the USTR should respond to demands
for greater transparency.  We are encouraged at the new sensitivities of
the USTR, and we look forward to the realization of the early promisses
by President Obama on transparency and openess."

Nuria Homedes, Salud y F=C3=A3rmacos
"Trade and intellectual property decisions affect the lives of all
people.  In a democracy, citizens should be informed of the decisions
that government officials intend to make on their behalf, understand how
those decisions may impact their lives and those of other fellow
citizens, and must have means to express their views.  Greater
transparency on the process and substance of USTR negotiations will
renew domestic and international trust in the USA government."



--
Malini Aisola
Knowledge Ecology International
1621 Connecticut Avenue NW, Suite 500, Washington DC 20009
malini.aisola@keionline.org|Tel: +1.202.332.2670|Fax: +1.202.332.2673