The limits of global governance Presentation to APr
The limits of global governance Presentation to APr. IGF “IP: ACTA & Other Controversies” Plenary
Agenda Introduction to Internet. NZ Global Governance: Multilateral, plurilateral The Limits to Global Governance Where does intellectual property fit? ACTA Public. ACTA Thoughts for the future
Introduction to Internet. NZ To protect and promote the Internet for New Zealand Membership-based and open to all Internet. NZ holds the delegation for the. NZ domain (and operates it through two subsidiaries) Some of the proceeds fund our policy and international work
Global Governance types Global governance: ICANN’s coordination of names & numbers Multilateral governance: The World Trade Organisation, WIPO Plurilateral governance: ACTA, Trans-Pacific Partnership
Limits to global governance Subsidiarity is a useful concept Do things globally that must be done globally Do the rest locally Today’s trend is to globalise governance even where it isn’t especially useful to do so. Drivers to globalised governance Dangers of plurilateral approaches Benefits of national autonomy
Where does IP law fit? New Zealand’s point of view: TRIPs was the most that is needed Opposed to ACTA requiring changes to law Not signed the WIPO Internet treaties Concerned IP is at the point of being over-protected Should IP law remain a matter of national choice? What does the ACTA case show?
ACTA (and TPPA) The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement Rhetoric of “enforcement” not “tighter standards” Reality quite different – they can’t be separated ACTA is a plurilateral approach to global normsetting In the end, the teeth were drawn from ACTA Part of a wider push by IP-producing countries to extract more wealth from IP-consuming countries TPPA is posing similar challenges
Public. ACTA A public event in Wellington before the Wellington Round of ACTA negotiations (April 2010) Audience perspective- and participation-led Designed to pull together community concerns and recommendations to how ACTA might become citizen- and user-friendly Prepared and released “The Wellington Declaration” Associated petition got 11, 000 signatures Model of community engagement putting real pressure on the host government (NZ)
For the future Pressure to tighten intellectual property law won’t go away The evidence will continue to be lacking To protect citizen-friendly approaches, we need either: — True multi-lateral or global governance — Leaving IP law as matters of national competence (but neither is likely) Over-globalisation is as problematic as underglobalisation The approach should be based on the problem we are trying to solve: and on being open.
Thanks Our website: internetnz. net. nz Jordan Carter Policy Advisor jordan@internetnz. net. nz
- Slides: 11