18-Apr-2018
The Japan Times
The Japan-China high-level economic dialogue on Monday — the first such meeting in about eight years — marked a first step toward resetting a bilateral relationship that has been under strain amid such issues as perceptions of history and deepening economic ties.
11-Apr-2018
MSF Access Campaign
Officials from the European Union (EU) and India are expected to meet in Brussels on April 12th to resume technical talks on the long-stalled EU-India free trade agreement (FTA). A leaked draft of the agreement, which has been under discussion since 2007, contains proposals from the EU that push for intellectual property (IP) provisions in the FTA that could jeopardize access to affordable medicines.
9-Apr-2018
Creative Commons
While it’s positive that at least the parties are coming to the conclusion to forego the gratuitous copyright term extension, most of the changes in the consolidated text show a continued tightening of copyright protections that favor incumbent rights holders at the expense of users and the commons.
29-Mar-2018
Public Citizen
NAFTA was the first “trade” agreement that included new monopoly powers for Big Pharma companies.
26-Mar-2018
The Hindu BusinessLine
India’s Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu today indicated the resumption of negotiations of the long-stalled free trade pact between India and the European Union.
6-Mar-2018
Electronic Frontier Foundation
On March 8, trade representatives from eleven Pacific rim countries including Canada, Mexico, Japan, and Australia are expected to ratify the Trans-Pacific Partnership, now known as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). The agreement has been slimmed down both in its content—22 items in the text have been suspended, including the bulk of the intellectual property chapter—and also in its membership, with the exclusion of the United States which had been the driver of those suspended provisions.
21-Feb-2018
Alianza Biodiversidad
We invite you to add your signatures to this document.
12-Feb-2018
East Asia Forum
Japan’s role in RCEP negotiations appears to have been shaped by its participation in the TPP. Japan is now championing for expanded intellectual property right provisions which may block access to affordable medicines
5-Feb-2018
Business Mirror
As the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) made significant headway in January, negotiating countries in the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) are pressured to conclude the trade deal, and they try to make progress in the ongoing talks in Indonesia.
