Groser Welcomes Release Of ACTA Negotiating Text

Groser Welcomes Release Of ACTA Negotiating Text

Trade Minister Tim Groser today welcomed a decision to publicly release the negotiating text of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, following negotiations held in Wellington last week.

"New Zealand has supported public release of the negotiating text, in response to strong public interest, and I am pleased that we have now reached agreement with the other participants in this negotiation. This will make the ACTA negotiations more accessible to the public and I hope that it will help the process of reaching a final agreement."

The decision to release the text was taken by the participating countries at the conclusion of the 8th round of negotiations, held in Wellington on 12-16 April. The text will be released on Wednesday 21 April (Eastern Standard Time in the United States).

Participants in the negotiations included Australia, Canada, the European Union, represented by the European Commission, the EU Presidency (Spain) and EU Member States, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore, Switzerland and the United States of America.

Participants agreed that the next meeting would be hosted by Switzerland in June 2010, and to continue work with the aim of concluding ACTA as soon as possible in 2010.

The full text of the negotiating text will be available from www.mfat.govt.nz on Thursday 22 April (New Zealand time).

ENDS