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Deutsch: Geheime IPR-Maßnahmen im Handelsabkommen zwischen der EU und Südkore...

The European Union and South Korea plan to initiate a Free Trade Agreement in October 2009. The trade agreement includes civil, border and criminal measures for the enforcement of copyright, trademark rights, patents and other exclusive rights. The text of the agreement is secret.

In the Netherlands, EDRi-member Vrijschrift.org last week asked the parliamentary Commission on Subsidiarity to investigate the EU - South Korea trade agreement. In 2006, this commission gained fame with its negative advice on the EU Criminal measures intellectual property directive proposal (IPRED2).

Subsequently, both chambers of the Dutch Parliament unanimously agreed with the Commission's advice and sent a letter to then EU Commissioner Frattini, with translated copies to the other national parliaments of the EU. IPRED 2 is now permanently stuck in the EU Council.

FFII analyst Ante Wessels comments: "Decisions on substantive and formal criminal law have always been deemed especially sensitive for the ability of a constitutional state to democratically shape itself. Hence the opposition against EU criminal law. It is rather shocking that criminal measures are now secretly put in trade agreements. And the secretiveness of the EU - South Korea trade agreement makes it impossible to assess its effects on access to the Internet, software and medicine, too."

The EU member states have the righ to veto on criminal measures. The articles related to trade services fall within the shared competence of the Community and its member states. The agreement has to be concluded jointly by the Community and the member states.

Ante Wessels adds: "The governments keep the national parliaments uninformed. To gain influence, parliaments have to first force transparency. They can do so by making parliamentary scrutiny reservations. Then the government can't go ahead before the parliament is informed and makes a decision."

South Korea and the European Union (EU) will initial their bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) in October (10.09.2009)
http://www.bilaterals.org/article.php3?id_article=15882

EU Council documents
http://preview.tinyurl.com/n7lzvb

Vrijschrift letter (only in Dutch, 16.09.2009)
http://people.vrijschrift.org/~ante/korea/Vrijschrift-Com_Subsidiarite...

FFII information page on EU - South Korea trade agreement with more information on vetoes
http://action.ffii.org/acta/fta

TransAtlantic Consumer Dialogue (TACD), Resolution on the enforcement of copyright, trademarks, patents and other intellectual property rights (18.06.2009)
http://www.tacd-ip.org/blog/2009/06/18/tacd-issues-resolution-on-iprs-...

NGO Letter to USTR on transparency (22.07.2009)
http://keionline.org/content/view/246/1

Secret criminal measures in EU - South Korea trade agreement (21.09.2009)
http://press.ffii.org/Press_releases/Secret_criminal_measures_in_EU_-_...

(Thanks to Ante Wessels - FFII - Förderverein für eine Freie Informationelle Infrastruktur)