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Trade Talks Off To Rocky Start
by Danielle Belopotosky
More than 100 trade ministers this week have descended upon Hong Kong. They are charged with the daunting task of brokering a deal spanning across many countries' agricultural, manufacturing, service, textile and worker trade issues.
Negotiators have been working toward these talks since the World Trade Organization met in Doha, Qatar, in November 2001. At the so-called Doha round, member nations agreed to foster a trade program for developing nations, but the mood is already "pessimistic," wrote Frank Vargo, a vice president with the National Association of Manufacturers, in his blog Monday.
On Tuesday, the 148 trade ministers held bilateral meetings to focus on key areas including non-agricultural market access services and agriculture. WTO Commerce Minister Humayun Khan of Pakistan urged members of the discussions to remain flexible. "It may not be the one you would have sought or desired, but that is what compromises are made of," he said during the group meeting.
The U.S. High-Tech Trade Coalition, which includes the Information Technology Industry Council and the Consumers Electronics Association among its members, voiced support for negotiators advance talks on market access for information and communications technology, electronics and electrical products.
The U.S. coalition aligned with the European Information and Communications Technology Industry Association, the Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association, and other electronics trade associations to call for a sectoral agreement on electronics.
Talks Could Detail Tech Issues
The group hopes the Doha talks will serve as a vehicle for expanding the WTO's Information Technology Agreement to include more products as technologies converge and blur the traditional definitions of consumer electronics and computer products.
"Convergence of the IT and [consumer electronics] industries have resulted in many products being classified into dutiable customs categories," Elizabeth Hyman, senior director and tax and trade council for CEA, said in a statement.
Although talks have stalled on agriculture subsidies, Vargo wrote from Hong Kong that he remained hopeful negotiators would focus on a more comprehensive deal that would address manufacturing issues.
Meanwhile, the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development released a report Monday that found trade-related technical assistance and capacity building has increased by 50 percent since the 2001 Doha Ministerial Declaration.
More than 15,000 commitments to build trade capacity have been logged into a WTO/OECD database since the database was launched in 2002. Aid to assist countries with trade policy and regulations increased from $65 million to $85 million over the past three years. Of those commitments, least developing countries accounted for 16 percent of that aid.
Assistance to create a favorable business and entrepreneurial environment rose by nearly $1 billion to $2.1 billion over the same period. And support to help countries build an economic import and export infrastructure including energy, transport and telecommunications reached $9.3 billion in 2003, with Africa receiving the greatest growth in share.
Development assistance is expected to reach $130 billion by 2010, according to the OECD.
Europe Reviews Database Copyright Protection
The European Commission released a report Monday evaluating the legal protection of databases. The study also reviewed a 1996 policy directive's effects on competition in that market.
"Databases are an important part of Europe's economy in the information age," Internal Market and Services Commissioner Charlie McCreevy said in a statement. "I want to make sure that EU rules encourage the development in this sector."
A recent online survey carried out by the commission evaluated the 1996 directive, which aimed to harmonize disparate rules governing copyright protections, investment safeguards and information security. Under the rules, copyright protection is extended to databases if they are "sufficiently creative."
The directive attempted to establish a two-tier copyright system with a minimum threshold of "originality," or intellectual creativity, of databases. Databases lacking original authorship receive a second tier, or "sui generis" intellectual property protection, which last 15 years. First tier protections lasts the life of the author, plus 70 years. The study questioned whether the system of sui generis, which is Latin for "of its own kind," was necessary in the industry. It also asked whether the protection comes too close to protecting raw data or basic information.
Because the broad definition of "database" includes telephone subscriber listings, compilations of legislation, Web sites containing classified advertisements and real estate listings, the application of the directive by EU member nations highlights the "textual ambiguities of the 'sui generis' right," according to the report.
Of those surveyed in the database industry, 75 percent were aware of the protections given to these "second-tier" unique works, and 80 percent said they felt protected by such a right. Respondents also agreed that the harmonization of copyright protections has reduced security costs, created more business opportunities and facilitated the marketing of databases. However, 31 percent said the system is not fully harmonized across Europe, which itself has created legal uncertainty, difficulty in accessing data and increased administrative burdens.
The advent of the Internet and digital services has become a platform for electronic databases. In 2000, database and directory services accounted for roughly 1.6 percent of the European Union's gross domestic product.
But the report demonstrates that with the introduction of the sui generis protection, there appears to be an "assumption that more and more layers of IP protection means more innovation and growth appears not to hold up." Between 2002 and 2004, European database production decreased from 33 percent to 24 percent, which the U.S. share increased from 62 percent to 72 percent.
The report offers policy options that range from maintaining the status quo to repealing the entire directive. Stakeholders have until March 2006 to comment on the report.
India-U.S. Conclude Tech Talks
The U.S. and Indian governments last week concluded their inaugural round of information and communications technology working group discussions, which was co-chaired by the State Department's Coordinator for International Communications and Information Policy Ambassador David Gross and India's Additional Secretary of the Department of Information Technology M. Madhavan Nambiar.
The focus of the discussions was on what approaches each government can take to create a business and investment-friendly regulatory environment to encourage greater development in the ICT sector, according to the State Department. The officials also addressed how each could better collaborate in the areas of universal service and the liberalization of the ICT sector. They also discussed what the government's role should be in the adoption of new technology, as well as ways to enhance "cyber trust" to foster e-commerce and e-governance.
Matthew Flanigan, president of the Telecommunications Industry Association, called the dialogue "essential to both economies."
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