Secret ACTA negotiations move to New Zealand

Seven rounds of ACTA negotiations have already taken place

The latest round of negotiations on the controversial Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) is about to take place in Wellington, New Zealand.

A petition will also be submitted to the negotiators protesting against the agreement, which contains controversial proposals for disconnecting illegal downloaders from the internet, according to leaked documents.

The trade agreement has been conducted in secret for the past three years, but a large part of the text was leaked online last month by digital rights organisation La Quadrature du Net.

Trade documents related to ACTA have been leaked before, but La Quadrature du Net published a 56-page draft copy of the agreement (PDF) on its web site, the largest leak yet.

Seven rounds of ACTA negotiations have taken place between the European Union, the US, Japan and other leading countries, but nothing has been finalised.

The petition has been put forward by New Zealand rights group PublicACTA with the support of New Zealand's Wellington Town Hall, and has collected over 4,000 signatures so far.

The petition argues that the ACTA negotiations should only consider issues that relate to the commercial production of illicit physical goods, arguing that the World Intellectual Property Organisation would be a better forum for discussing copyright, trademark and patent rights.

It also maintains that the ACTA negotiation process should be made transparent, because the proposals affect the freedoms and privacy of European citizens, and that public scrutiny will ensure that the agreement does not have unintended consequences.

"We call for full transparency and public scrutiny of the ACTA process, including release of the text after each round of negotiations. Governments have been unwilling to respond to specific concerns raised by the public," said the petition.

"We call for wider participation in setting the agenda and scope of ACTA. Input must be sought from affected sectors such as education, healthcare, arts and culture, information technology, non-governmental organisations, and consumer rights groups."

Finally, the petition argues against the disconnection of individuals from the internet, a principle that has recently been endorsed in France, and in the UK with the passing of the Digital Economy Bill.

"We declare that access to the internet is increasingly necessary for participation in society," the petition said.

"Disconnection, account suspension or limitation of service have disproportionately negative consequences for civil rights. ACTA cannot require or allow that it be an acceptable sanction for copyright or trademark infringement."