Intellectual property legislation changes as a result of trade agreements/treaties
Brendan Molloy made this Freedom of Information request to Attorney-General's Department
This request has been closed to new correspondence from the public body. Contact us if you think it ought be re-opened.
Dear Attorney-General's Department,
I hereby request, under the Freedom of Information Act (1982), copies of the following documents, available as of the date of this letter:
(a) All documents pertaining to the potential of legislative change in the area of intellectual property as a result of signing and/or ratifying the following treaties and trade agreements:
(i) Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement
(ii) Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement
(iii) Malaysia-Australia Free Trade Agreement
(iv) Japan-Australia Free Trade Agreement
I also make the application that all costs for the processing of this request be waived on the grounds that the release of this information is in the public interest, will enhance the transparency of the process and the public debate surrounding potential legislative changes.
--
Regards,
Brendan Molloy
Secretary
Pirate Party Australia
UNCLASSIFIED
Good Afternoon Mr Molloy
I hereby acknowledge your request under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth) dated 10 December 2012.
Your request will be processed as quickly as possible.
Kind Regards
Margarita Constant
Freedom of Information and Privacy Section | Office of Corporate Counsel Attorney-General's Department | 3 - 5 National Circuit, Barton ACT 2600
A: +61 (2) 6141 3291 +: [email address]
UNCLASSIFIED
Dear Mr Molloy
Your FOI request below has been assigned to me for processing. I am
presently awaiting advice concerning documents within scope of your
request from the relevant line area of the Department.
I will be on leave until 16 January 2013 and will contact you on my return
to provide an update on the matter.
Sincerely
Stuart Plowman| Legal Officer
Freedom of Information & Privacy Section | Office of Corporate Counsel
Attorney-General's Department |3 - 5 National Circuit, Barton ACT 2600
T: +61 (2) 6141 4105 E: [1][email address]
Dear Ms Eisenberg,
Thank you for your correspondence.
If "All documents relating to the potential for legislative change to existing intellectual property law as a result of signing and/or ratifying the following treaties and trade agreements" (as stated in the letter dated January 10) would be a sufficient revision, I consent to this wording.
--
Regards,
Brendan Molloy
Secretary
Pirate Party Australia
UNCLASSIFIED
Brendan
On reconsideration the following request would be less ambiguous if it reflects the documents you want:
(a) All documents on potential legislative change to intellectual property law resulting from the final agreed text of the following treaties and trade agreements:
(i) Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement
(ii) Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement
(iii) Malaysia-Australia Free Trade Agreement
(iv) Japan-Australia Free Trade Agreement
Regards
Andra Eisenberg | Senior Legal Officer
Freedom of Information and Privacy Section | Office of Corporate Counsel Australian Government Attorney-General's Department | 3 - 5 National Circuit, Barton ACT 2600
T: +61 (2) 6141 3274 E: [email address]
Dear Ms Eisenberg,
I believe in this context, the previous amendment is the most appropriate, as AJFTA and the TPP are currently under negotiation. By my understanding, your recent proposal may render those two agreements out of scope for my request.
Perhaps a more appropriate amendment could be as follows:
(a) All documents on potential legislative change to intellectual property law resulting from the final agreed text or draft texts of the following treaties and trade agreements:
(i) Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement
(ii) Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement
(iii) Malaysia-Australia Free Trade Agreement
(iv) Japan-Australia Free Trade Agreement
--
Regards,
Brendan Molloy
Secretary
Pirate Party Australia
UNCLASSIFIED
Hi Brendan
Any reference to 'draft texts' is problematic because the documents will be too voluminous. How about:
All documents on potential legislative change to intellectual property law resulting from the final agreed text or most recent draft texts of the following treaties and trade agreements
(i) Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement
(ii) Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement
(iii) Malaysia-Australia Free Trade Agreement
(iv) Japan-Australia Free Trade Agreement
Regards
Andra Eisenberg | Senior Legal Officer
Freedom of Information and Privacy Section | Office of Corporate Counsel Australian Government Attorney-General's Department | 3 - 5 National Circuit, Barton ACT 2600
T: +61 (2) 6141 3274 E: [email address]
Dear Ms Eisenberg,
Thank you for your prompt response.
I consent to the proposed amendment as worded.
--
Regards,
Brendan Molloy
Secretary
Pirate Party Australia
UNCLASSIFIED
Thanks Brendan
I will forward it on to the line area now.
Regards
Andra Eisenberg | Senior Legal Officer
Freedom of Information and Privacy Section | Office of Corporate Counsel Australian Government Attorney-General's Department | 3 - 5 National Circuit, Barton ACT 2600
T: +61 (2) 6141 3274 E: [email address]
UNCLASSIFIED
UNCLASSIFIED
Dear Mr Molloy
I refer to your FOI request of 10 December 2012.
This request requires that we consult a foreign entity to determine
whether the release of the material to you could damage the international
relations of the Commonwealth and / or divulge any information or matter
communicated in confidence by a foreign entity to the Commonwealth.
In a case such as this, subsection 15(8) of the FOI Act applies to extend
the FOI processing period by 30 days. Therefore the processing period for
your request has been extended under this provision to 8 February 2013.
Regards
Andra Eisenberg | Senior Legal Officer
Freedom of Information and Privacy Section | Office of Corporate Counsel
Australian Government Attorney-General's Department | 3 - 5 National
Circuit, Barton ACT 2600
T: +61 (2) 6141 3274 E: [1][email address]
If you have received this transmission in error please
notify us immediately by return e-mail and delete all
copies. If this e-mail or any attachments have been sent
to you in error, that error does not constitute waiver
of any confidentiality, privilege or copyright in respect
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Dear Ms Eisenberg,
Is it possible for you to tell me who these foreign entities are that must be consulted?
Thanks.
--
Regards,
Brendan Molloy
Secretary
Pirate Party Australia
UNCLASSIFIED
Dear Mr Molloy
The relevant foreign Governments for each Agreement would require consultation. Stuart Plowman will be back tomorrow so you can direct your inquiries to him.
Regards
Andra Eisenberg | Senior Legal Officer
Freedom of Information and Privacy Section | Office of Corporate Counsel Australian Government Attorney-General's Department | 3 - 5 National Circuit, Barton ACT 2600
T: +61 (2) 6141 3274 E: [email address]
Dear Mr Plowman,
Are we still on track for the completion of this request by tomorrow?
--
Regards,
Brendan Molloy
Secretary
Pirate Party Australia
UNCLASSIFIED
Dear Mr Molloy
I believe I should be in a position to complete this request tomorrow and will advise you should this not prove possible.
Sincerely
Stuart Plowman| Legal Officer
Freedom of Information & Privacy Section | Office of Corporate Counsel Attorney-General's Department |3 - 5 National Circuit, Barton ACT 2600
T: +61 (2) 6141 4105 E: [email address]
UNCLASSIFIED
Dear Mr Molloy
I refer to your freedom of information request to the Attorney-General's
Department concerning potential legislative change to various
international agreements. Please find attached my decision letter dated
8 February 2013.
Sincerely
Stuart Plowman| Legal Officer
Freedom of Information & Privacy Section | Office of Corporate Counsel
Attorney-General's Department |3 - 5 National Circuit, Barton ACT 2600
T: +61 (2) 6141 4105 E: [1][email address]
References
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1. mailto:[email address]
Brendan Molloy left an annotation ()
tl;dr:
They claim for TPP, MAFTA and AJFTA, there are no documents and therefore they cannot release them.
They claim that the documents found for ACTA constitute "legal advice" which they claim is exempted under the Act.
Brendan Molloy left an annotation ()
(Here are the contents of the attached Word document)
Dear Mr Molloy
Re: FOI Request
I refer to your recent request of 10 December 2012 under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 seeking access to copies of:
All documents pertaining to the potential of legislative change in the area of intellectual property as a result of signing and/or ratifying the following treaties and trade agreements:
(i) Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement
(ii) Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement
(iii) Malaysia-Australia Free Trade Agreement
(iv) Japan-Australia Free Trade Agreement.
The relevant line areas within the Department have conducted searches for the relevant documents and have identified potentially 100s of documents over approximately a seven year period coming within the ambit of your request. The examination and assessment of those documents by the Department would clearly be very time and resource-consuming and detailed consultations with relevant third parties would also be required. Therefore, your request as presently worded, would involve a substantial and unreasonable diversion of this Department’s resources.
Section 24 of the Act allows an agency to refuse a request where processing of the request would involve a substantial and unreasonable diversion of the agency’s resources. Accordingly, we are giving you notice that unless you revise the request to significantly reduce its ambit, it will be refused. You can reduce the ambit of the request by specifying the types of documents you are seeking or specifying the subject matter or issues that you are particularly interested in. For example, you could request All documents relating to the potential for legislative change to existing intellectual property law as a result of signing and/or ratifying the following treaties and trade agreements… .
Under the Act, you have 14 days to withdraw or revise your request, advise that you do not wish to revise your request or seek our assistance in revising the request (Stuart Plowman will return on 16 January 1913). If you fail to do one of these four things within fourteen days, your request will be deemed to have been withdrawn.
Yours sincerely
Andra Eisenberg
Senior Legal Officer
FOI & Privacy Section