Transparency
Why does the Obama Administration insist on secrecy of the draft Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) text?
Civil law injunctions and damages for infringement are national security hot spots 4% (10 votes) ACTA negotiators don’t want people asking informed questions about the substance of the agreement 69% (191 votes) No one in the Administration cares enough about… Continue Reading
USTR’s February 10, 2009 memo on Transparency Soup
Background
On October 14, 2009, KEI submitted a FOIA request to the USTR, which is available here, asking for the following records:
KEI requests all records at USTR on the topic of the policy and practice of USTR regard the transparency of trade negotiations, including but not limited to the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA).
Transparency, cost benefit analysis and de-linkage of cost of R&D from price of the products for Rare and Neglected Pediatric Diseases
Written submission U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Hearing on Treating Rare and Neglected Pediatric Diseases: Promoting the Development of New Treatments and Cures On the topic of Transparency, cost benefit analysis and de-linkage of cost… Continue Reading
FOIA document: In 2007, US Ambassador Ralph Boyce was pleased that Abbott withdrew life saving drugs from market in Thailand
In 2007, Thailand was involved in a dispute over the granting of compulsory licenses on medicines, including the patents used for Kaletra, an Abbott drug used in the treatment of AIDS. Kaletra is the brand name for a fixed dose combination of lopinavir and ritonavir (LPV/r) — two drugs invented at Abbott on an NIH grant. In 2007, LPV/r was the preferred combination for protease inhibitor regimes used to treat AIDS. Continue Reading
United States Trade Representative (USTR) FOIA requests
Before (or after) reading these accounts of FOIA requests to USTR, you might also review the transparency memorandum issued by President Obama in January 2009.
The following are some recent FOIA requests for USTR:
2009: White House: ACTA still “secret in the interest of national defense or foreign policy”
By James Love, on July 31st, 2009
On Thursday, July 30, 2009, the White House office of the United States Trade Representative denied release of 4 new proposals for text that were circulated in July to “all countries” in the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) negotiations. The request was limited to documents that were prepared in the past 90 days for purpose of discussion at the July 2009 ACTA negotiating meeting held in Morocco.
USTR located 4 such documents, but denied the FOIA request under 5 USC 552(b)(1). The specific exception cited reads as follows:
2009 NGO Letter to USTR on transparency
On July 22, 2009, eight public interest, consumer and public health organizations wrote to the United States Trade Representative (USTR), recommending the USTR and other federal agencies reduce secrecy and increase transparency in negotiations that involve global norms for knowledge… Continue Reading
US guts transparency clause in PAHO R&D resolution
The PAHO negotiations on the R&D resolution has produced a new draft, which radically guts the provision on transparency of pharmaceutical industry economics.
The US opposed this language:
“(j) to develop, with input from Member States, a possible standard for disclosure of economic data for drug registered for sale, including disclosures of the costs of R&D, the prices of products, and the annual revenues from the sale of products.”
The US agreed to this language:
2009: PAHO dispute over standards for transparency of economic data for pharmaceutical industry
Today the executive board of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) is considering a proposal to have more transparency of the economics of the pharmaceutical industry. (I have separately blogged about this on the Huffpo). Specifically, an amendment offered to a PAHO EB resolution on research, proposed the following: