Trade Officials To Review Transparency
Officials inside the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative have promised to thoroughly review their transparency policies on the heels of complaints by several civil society groups who argued that deliberations over the proposed Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Act have been too secretive, Knowledge Ecology International Director James Love said Friday. The review is expected to be completed within a few months and will include a meeting in the coming weeks to discuss initial specific proposals for openness, he wrote on his blog. Citizens and non-governmental organizations are encouraged to think about the specific areas where openness and transparency can be enhanced and how, Love said.
Among the proposals that will be evaluated are the following at the request of KEI:
1. Disclosure of all negotiating texts and policy papers
2. Disclosure of all meeting agenda (as soon as they are available), and participant lists, extending to plurilateral, regional and bilateral negotiations policies that are common at multilateral institutions.
3. Accreditation of civil society NGOs to attend meetings, including in plurilateral, regional and bilateral negotiations, as is common at multilateral institutions.
4. Public consultations and comment periods, including those that accept comments to web based forums.
In addition, the USTR is welcoming groups to make other proposals, he said. Read more about last week's meeting on KEI's blog here and a recent CongressDaily story on the topic here (subscription required).
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