Letter to the Honorable Michael Froman, US Trade Representative - Transparency in U.S. Trade Agreements

Letter

Dear Ambassador Froman,

We write as supporters of trade and strong believers in a transparent and open government. As the final rounds of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) agreement are negotiated, we urge you to heed the public calls for increased transparency in the negotiations, particularly with respect to the intellectual property rights chapters. We request that you increase public engagement in the TPP negotiations with a range of diverse stakeholders and ensure that the final agreement maintains a balanced intellectual property system.

While we recognize the need to maintain a degree of confidentiality in negotiating our trade agreements, we remain disappointed that important stakeholders including civil society groups, businesses, and academics have not been able to meaningfully participate in the treaty process. The Industry Trade Advisory Committee on Intellectual Property (ITAC-15) has a limited membership, precluding a more diverse set of stakeholders from being able to review and provide input on the negotiating texts or regularly meet with United States Trade Representative (USTR) negotiators.

In particular, we are concerned that the TPP Intellectual Property Rights chapter leaked in November 2013 would place undue restrictions on our copyright laws, harming our innovation, our economy, and an open and free Internet. These standards are troubling given their ability to potentially restrict the legislative branch, particularly when Congress has indicated it is beginning to evaluate the merits of revising these laws. For example, as sponsors of H.R. 1892, the Unlocking Technology Act, we are particularly troubled by draft proposals concerning prohibitions on the circumvention of technical protection measures or Digital Rights Management. The leaked treaty draft includes language that would seemingly make any permanent fix to unlocking cellphones illegal. Intellectual property is a dynamic policy area in which preserving Congress' ability to adapt to the changing nature of technology is absolutely critical for the United States and our trading partners.

To that end, we encourage the Administration to work with the negotiating parties to publicly release the current official text of the TPP intellectual property and related chapters--or at least summaries of these proposals--and invite public comments on such provisions before the agreement is concluded. A strong precedent already exists for such a process; for instance, the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement official text was made public an entire year before the agreement was finalized. Additionally, in the future we urge you to develop a more open model of trade agreement negotiation.

We remain optimistic about the job creation and economic growth prospects that increased trade with our TPP partners could provide to our country. As the last TPP rounds are negotiated, greater transparency and public participation will only increase public support for the agreement and bolster the final product's legitimacy.

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