Kelvin Thomson (Wills, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

On behalf of the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties I present the committee's report entitled Report 126: Treaty tabled on 21 November 2011.

In accordance with standing order 39(f) the report was made a parliamentary paper.

by leave—I present the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties Report 126: Treaty tabled on 21 November 2011 which contains the committee's views on the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, which was tabled in the Australian parliament on 21 November last year.

The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, or ACTA as it is known, has been the cause of much controversy. Thousands of people have taken to the streets in Europe to protest against it. The committee's review of the agreement has brought a greater understanding as to why. ACTA is an agreement designed to strengthen intellectual property standards around the world. It focuses on trademark and copyright enforcement and establishes a legal framework for intellectual property enforcement. ACTA has received support from Australia's performing arts community and the committee strongly supports protecting their rights.

It is not ACTA's intent that the committee is concerned with. The committee is concerned that, despite ACTA's intent, it exhibits a number of flaws, and the committee is not yet convinced that the agreement in its current form is in Australia's interest. We have asked for further analysis and clarification to be undertaken. This analysis includes the existing Australian Law Reform Commission Inquiry into Copyright and the Digital Economy. The committee is concerned about the lack of clarity in the text, the exclusion of provisions protecting the rights of individuals, and ACTA's potential to shift the balance in the interpretation of copyright law, intellectual property law and patent law.

The committee has made nine recommendations, the most significant being:

That the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement not be ratified by Australia until the:

It is very noteworthy that this is a unanimous report—government, opposition and Greens MPs and senators, with very different perspectives on many issues, have worked hard to produce a unanimous report and I commend my fellow MPs and senators on the spirit in which they approached this important task.

The committee has also recommended that:

In the event that the Australian Government ratifies the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), the Government prepares legislation to:

With an eye to the future, the committee has also recommended:

That National Interest Analyses of treaties clearly intended to have an economic impact include an assessment of the economic benefits and costs of the treaty, or, if no assessment of the economic benefit of a treaty has been undertaken, a statement to that effect, along with an explanation as to why it was not necessary or unable to be undertaken.

The international reaction to ACTA, which, without exception, comes from countries which the committee considers would have the same interests as Australia, must also be taken into consideration. The committee has recommended that, given their importance in the world economy, Australia should also have regard to ACTA's ratification status in the European Union and in the United States of America. It must be said that ACTA's future is currently in the balance.

In Europe, Germany has not signed ACTA, and will not do so until the European Parliament has expressed an opinion; Switzerland has postponed signing ACTA until issues relating to personal freedoms have been clarified; a motion has been passed by the Dutch lower house recommending ACTA's rejection; Poland has suspended consideration of ACTA's ratification until at least the end of 2012; the Czech Republic has suspended the ratification process until further notice; the Slovak Republic has suspended the ratification process until further notice; and Bulgaria has suspended consideration of ratification until European Union member states elaborate a joint position on ACTA. ACTA was referred to the European Parliament's 31 member International Trade Committee which, in a 19-12 vote on 21 June, recommended the European Parliament reject the agreement. The European Parliament itself will vote on the 4 July. Given all these events, it would be prudent for Australia to take the cautious approach that the committee has advocated. Mr Deputy Speaker, on behalf of the committee, I commend the report to the House.

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