Peter Ollier, Hong Kong and Fionn O'Raghallaigh, London
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| Karel de Gucht |
The European Commission and the US Trade Representative have released drafts of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement in an attempt to open up the negotiating process and ease concerns about possible restrictions on civil liberties and internet access.
"The negotiation draft shows that specific concerns, raised in particular by the civil society, are unfounded," said EU trade commissioner Karel de Gucht.
He added that no party in the ACTA talks is proposing that governments should introduce a compulsory three-strikes provision.
But the ACTA draft shows that the negotiators still have a long way to go before reaching agreement on key issues.
The consolidated draft contains many paragraphs littered with square brackets indicating that parties have put forward different versions and no agreement has been reached.
In a joint statement accompanying the release of the draft, the ACTA negotiators said that...