November 2003 Ministerial in Miami, and Related NGO Events

• CPTech Page on the November 2003 Ministerial in Miami.
• November 19, 2003. Negotiating Intellectual Property Provisions in Free Trade Agreements. A one-day worshop sponsored by the Consumer Project on Technology, the Program on Intellectual Property and the Public Interest of the Washington College of Law at American University, and the Centro de Eduios Interdisciplinario de Derecho Industrial y Economico (CEIDIE) Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina.
• November 18, 2003. Access to Information and the Copyright and Related Rights Provisions in the Proposed FTAA. A Panel Discussion in the “Trade, Knowledge and Intellectual Property Rights” Tent at the Americas Trade and Sustainable Development.
  • Final Report of the Trade, Knowledge and Intellectual Property Rights Thematic Tent.(PDF)
  • Final Conclusions of the Trade, Knowledge and Intellectual Property Rights Thematic Tent.(PDF)
  • James Love. The FTAA and Access to Information.(PPT)
  • Howard Knopf. Copyright and the FTAA: An Unamerican Perspective.(PPT)
  • Gwen Hinze. Opening Markets or Closing Options: Technological Protection Measures in the FTAA. Available as a Powerpoint Presentation or as a PDF File.

FTAA Documents

• November 21, 2003. Third Draft Consolidated Text of the FTAA.
• Novmber 20, 2003. Ministerial Declaration of the Eighth Ministerial of the FTAA.

• Second Draft Consolidated Text of the FTAA.
  • Provisions for compulsory licensing contained in the FTAA draft agreement.
  • Provisions for Exceptions to and Exaustion of Patent Rights contained in the FTAA draft agreement.
  • Provisions for Domain Names on the Internet
  • Provisions for Copyright and Related Rights Term
  • Provisions for Obligations concerning technological measures
  • Provisions on Relationship to other IP Agreements and Joint recommendations
• Link to the FTAA Official Website.
• FTAA Negotiating Group on Intellectual Property Rights.
  • Eighteenth Meeting of the Negotiating Group on Intellectual Property Panama, January 20-21, 2003. PRESS COMMUNIQUE.

CPTech/Essential Action Documents

• January 28, 2004. CPTech's Comments on the FTAA Intellectual Property Chapter delivered at the Third Issue Meeting with the Participation of Civil Society on Intellectual Property Rights, Santa Domingo, Dominican Republic.
• February 28, 2003. CPTech's Comments on Second Draft.
• February 28, 2003. Essential Action's Comments on Second Draft.
• February 7, 2003. Rob Weissman. Overview of the ways in which FTAA provisions would undermine access to medicines and links to RFC .
• November 6, 2002. Rob Weissman Essentail Action Preliminary Analysis of New Draft FTAA Provisions on Intellectual Property and their Implications for Access to Medicines.
• August 22, 2001. Rob Weissman. Comments on the FTAA from Essential Information. Also see the earlier comments submitted on July 3, 2001. Preliminary Assessment of FTAA Intellectual Property Proposals' Effect on Access to Medicines.
• April 2001. Robert Weissman. Foreign Policy In Focus, Volume 6, no. 13. Free Trade Area of the Americas.
• January 29, 2001. Letter from James Love and Robert Weissman to the USTR's Trade Policy Staff Committee Executive Secretary Gloria Blue
• July 29, 1998 comments to USTR on FTAA provisions regarding Health Care and Intellectual Property
• March 1998 FTAA Position Paper submitted by CPT and Health Action International at 1998 FTAA Business Forum Meetings in San Jose, Costa Rica.
• May 1997 paper by James Love regarding Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), "Comments to the FTAA Working Group on Intellectual Property, at the Third Trade Ministerial and Americas Business Forum" Belo Horizonte, Brazil.

MSF Documents

• April 30, 2004. Chair of the Committee of Government Representatives on the Participation of Civil Society.
• August 28, 2003. Médecins Sans Frontierès press release. Access to affordable medicines under attack in the Americas.
• August 28, 2003. Médecins Sans Frontierès briefing document. Trading Away Health: Intellectual Property and Access to Medicines in the Free Trade Area of the Americas.
• February 28, 2003. Comments to the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) on behalf of Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontierès (MSF).
• October 31, 2002. MSF press release. US Trade Measures Threaten Access to Medicines in Latin America and the Caribbean.
• September 9, 2002. Rachel Cohen for Medicins Sans Frontieres. Testimony at the Public Hearing Concerning Market Access in the FTAA Negotiations of the Office of the United States Trade Representative.
• May 1, 2002. Nicolas de Torrente and Olaf Valverde. MSF Comments on the Draft Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) Agreement.

Other NGO Documents

• Comments on the Second Draft Consolidated Texts of the Free Trade Area of the Americas in response to December 27, 2002 notice published in the Federal Register, 67 Fed. Reg.249.
  • May 13, 2003. AFL-CIO. Testinoy of Thea Lee, Cheif International Economist. Testimony Before the Subcommittee on International Trade of the Senate Committee on Finance on the Status of the Free Trade Area of the Americas: Negotiations and Preparations for the Miami Ministerial.
  • February 27, 2003. Human Rights Watch -HIV/AIDS Program Comments.
  • Comments on behalf of Health GAP (Global Access Project).
  • February 27, 2003. International Intellectual Property Alliance Comments.
  • Comments of the American Library Association, Association of Research Libraries, American Association of Law Libraries, Medical Library Association, and Special Libraries Association.
  • January 31, 2003. Comments prepared by the FTAA Subcommittee of the International Trademark Association.
  • Computer & Communications Industry Association Comments.
  • January 31, 2003. The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM)comments.
• December 2002. Alianza Social Continental (ASC).
  • Alternativas para las Américas (Nueva versión Diciembre 2002formato pdf)
  • Alternatives for the Americas (New version December 2002)
• Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch page on the FTAA. Includes statements made by Public Citizen to the USTR.
• October 29, 2002. Human Rights Watch briefing paper. The FTAA, Access to HIV/AIDS Treatment, and Human Rights.
  • Full Report.
  • Press Release.
• August 30, 2002. International Intellectual Property Alliance. Executive Summary and Comments Submitted to the Americas Business Forum (VII) Workshop on Intellectual Property Rights in Quito, Ecuador.
• August 21, 2002. Ellen R. Shaffer, Joseph E. Brenner, and Alicia Yamin for the Center for Policy Analysis on Trade and Health. Comments Regarding the Free Trade Area of the Americas Negotiations: Effects on Universal Access to Health Care and Water Services.
• April 12, 2001. ACT-UP Philadelphia Press Release. New Trade Agreement for the Americas Jeopardizes Brazil's Acclaimed Generic AIDS Drug Program.
• February 14, 2001. AFL-CIO. Global Fairness and the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA)

Other Documents

• Directory of National Authorities on Intellectual Property Rights from a website maintained by the Organization of American States.
• US Trade Representative page on the FTAA. Includes a summary of the US negotiating positions and members of the negotiating team.
• Canadian proposals for the FTAA published by the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade.
• The Organization of American States' Trade Unit's page on the FTAA.
• IP laws of members of the Organization of American States.
• February 5, 2004. Venezuelan Bank of External Commerce (Bancoex). What is the Bolivarian Alternative for Latin America and the Caribbean?
• January 30, 2004. Silene Ramirez for Reuters. Venezuela says Jan 2005 FTAA target doomed to fail.
• January 17, 2004. Janaina Figueiredo for O Globo. BRAZIL, ARGENTINA SEEK TO EXCLUDE TRIPS, GOVERNMENT PROCUREMENT IN FTAA.
• November 22, 2003. Nicholas D. Kristof for the New York Times. Death by Dividend.
• November 18-19, 2003. Howard Knopf from Macera & Jarzyna. Copyright and the FTAA: An Unamerican Perspective.
• September 18, 2002. Mario Osava for the Inter Press Service. 10 Million Brazilian Votes Against Hemisphere's FTAA.
• July 22, 1997 Hearing on the FTAA, before the US Congress, House of Representatives, Committee on Ways and Means, Subcomittee on Trade. Not particularly helpful on the IP issues.

CPT Search Page. Contains internal search engines for both the Consumer Project on Technology website and the Essential Information email lists.