Trans-Atlantic Free Trade Agreement (TAFTA)
Formally titled: Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP)
The United States and EU hold the world’s largest bilateral economic partnership. As recognized by the OECD, this alignment of economic power is seen by industry and government representatives as an opportunity to set what they consider a “gold standard” for IP rules which, over time, developing countries will most likely be pressed to adopt.
Consumers should not be excluded from secretive negotiations that can compromise access to health, cultural participation, and free expression. Because the inclusion of IP in TAFTA would likely result in political compromises that fail to adequately account for consumer interests, 45 civil society organizations from the US and EU have signed a Civil Society Declaration asking negotiators to keep IP Out of TTIP.
Leaked Texts
LEAKED!: European Commission’s initial position papers on TTIP
Public Citizen Resources
- Press Release: Winners of ACTA and SOPA Battles Call for Exclusion of ‘Intellectual Property’ From EU-U.S. Trade Talks
- Blog post on TAFTA: First SOPA then ACTA, now TAFTA- here we go again
- See Civil Society Declaration asking negotiators to keep IP Out of TAFTA.
- See Presentation “IP Out of TAFTA” by Dr. Burcu Kilic, Global Access to Medicines Program
- See Presentation “Confidential Commercial Information vs. Our Right to Know” by Peter Maybarduk, Global Access to Medicines Program
- See Video of Global Access to Medicines Program Director Peter Maybarduk’s presentation at the Transatlantic Consumer Dialogue event on IP in TAFTA (June 2014)
External Resources
- February 18, 2016: Public Citizen, Health Action International & Commons Network Position Statement on TTIP and Access to Medicines (Available in Spanish here)
- December 18, 2014: Coalition Statement: EU trade secrets directive threat to health, enviroment, free speech and worker mobility (updated March 20, 2015)
- The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership – TTIP: A Civil Society Response to the Big Pharma wish list
- EU-letter to US on handling of documents (explaining EU secrecy practices)
- US-EU Civil societies send letter to heads of state on disapproval of TAFTA and its secretive handling
10 Reasons Why Intellectual Property (IP) Should BeKept Out of the Trans-Atlantic Free Trade Agreement (TAFTA or T-TIP)
- The European Parliament voted overwhelmingly against the ACTA in 2012.
- Making genes patentable would raise the cost of diagnostic tests and cancer research.
- Making medical procedures patentable would raise the cost of healthcare services.
- Harmonizing regulatory exclusivity could result in longer pharmaceutical monopolies.
- Linking pharmaceutical patents to regulatory approval would impede generic competition.
- Imposing indirect infringement liability on ISPs would significantly raise the costs of providing internet services that facilitate freedom of speech and access to information.
- Strict compliance with the copyright three-step test would raise costs for consumers.
- Protecting facts in databases would inhibit access to knowledge.
- Requiring libraries to pay lending royalties would inhibit access to culture and knowledge.
- Harmonizing approaches to geographical indications (GIs) would be near impossible.
For a PDF version of this list with linked sources: 10 Reasons why IP should not be included in TAFTA