On the occasion of a so-called consultation meeting on “the negotiation of a plurilateral Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA)” organized by the Directorate General for Trade of the European Commission in Brussels on 22 March 2010, the Committee for a Democratic U.N. (KDUN) has reiterated its criticism of the intransparent and secretive nature of the negotiation process.

“The fact that this treaty is negotiated between the United States, the European Union, Japan and a range of other countries since 2008 without any public consultations and outside the existing multilateral framworks such as the United Nations, the World Intellectual Property Organization or the World Trade Organization is cause for concern,” said KDUN Chairman Andreas Bummel.

“The secretive nature of the ACTA negotiations signifies an alarming defiance of democratic values and principles on behalf of the participating governments. Elected representatives, parliaments, civil society organizations and the public at large have no access and depend on leaked, unofficial information. At the same time, a select group of lobbyists was asked by the United States Trade Representative to provide input – among them Google, eBay, Intel, the International Intellectual Property Alliance, Sony Pictures Entertainment, the Motion Picture Association of America or the Recording Industry Association of America. This procedure undermines the credibility of the whole effort.”

“ACTA potentially sets an example for future global negotiations. We strongly oppose this attempt to establish a successful precedent for undemocratic and intransparent global rule-making. It has to be made clear that so-called plurilateral negotiations that are conducted in this manner are unacceptable,” said the Committee.

According to KDUN, an important step to democratize global governance would be the establishment of a global parliamentary assembly. “We believe that elected representatives need to be included in multilateral negotiations such as ACTA and a global parliamentary assembly would be the best way to achieve this,” said Mr Bummel.

KDUN supports an open letter of a worldwide coalition of non-governmental organizations that calls on European negotiators “to establish transparency in the negotiation process and publish the draft agreement, and not to accept any proposal which would undermine citizens’ rights and freedoms.”