U.S. industry group identifies Cancon regs as ‘trade barrier’ to tackle in TPP

A major U.S. association of software, film, TV and music companies is lobbying the United States Trade Representative (USTR) to address Canadian “trade barriers” related to Canadian content regulations and copyright law, according to a consultation document filed with the USTR. The International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA), a coalition of seven trade associations representing more than 1,900 companies in the U.S. software, film, music, television, and publishing sectors, said in the document that the USTR should “address such barriers to trade” in free trade talks with Canada as part of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations. Canada joined the TPP as a member country this summer after lobbying for entry. During that process, the IIPA had urged the USTR to exclude Canada from the TPP talks until Canada strengthened its copyright laws. The IIPA consultation document, dated Sept. 4 and posted on the association's website, was filed for participation in a USTR public hearing in September, and refers to trade barriers identified by the USTR's March 2012 report on trade. “IIPA strongly believes that the TPP market access chapters must be comprehensive in scope, strictly avoiding any sectoral carveouts that preclude the application of free trade disciplines,” the IIPA said. The group referred to Canada's “content quota requirements for television, radio, cable television, direct-to-home broadcast services, specialty television, and satellite radio services,” and added: “It should be possible to address such barriers to trade in the TPP, and thus augment consumers’ access to diverse content, while promoting local cultural expressions.” The USTR's 2012 report on foreign trade barriers, released in March 2012, identified Canada's broadcast regulations as a barrier to foreign investment and trade. The report noted that the Conservative government's liberalization of foreign investment in the telecom sector does not extend to “providing cable platforms, one of the most viable means to compete in the telecommunications sector.” Canada's cable television and television distribution networks are regulated under the Broadcasting Act, which the government did not amend this year when it removed the foreign ownership restrictions for small or new entrant telecom providers with less than 10 per cent of the national market share. The Broadcasting Act limits foreign investment in broadcasting and broadcast distribution companies to 33.3 per cent, effectively preventing foreign ownership. The USTR report also identified as trade barriers the CRTC's Canadian content exhibition quotas for the airing of Canadian programming, some of it during prime time; music exhibition quotas for radio; minimum Canadian channel carriage requirements for broadcast distributors; CRTC-required approval of the distribution on non-Canadian specialty channels; and CBC/Radio-Canada rules that say the public broadcaster must not “show popular foreign feature movies between 7 p.m. and 11 p.m.” “IIPA welcomes the participation of Canada in the TPP negotiations,” the association said in its submission. “The inclusion of a national market of Canada’s size and development in an ambitious TPP agreement could substantially amplify the beneficial effects of such an agreement on the economies, workforces and cultural milieux of all TPP members.” The IIPA said it “strongly supports” the negotiation of an intellectual property chapter in the TPP that builds on existing trade agreements and provisions in the Korea-United States free trade deal. “Measuring Canada’s current copyright law and enforcement regime against that yardstick helps in identifying some of the key negotiating objectives the U.S. should pursue with Canada in the TPP context,” the IIPA said. The association said the Conservative government's omnibus copyright reform legislation passed this year, Bill C-11, “fell short of bringing Canadian law into step with the current global standards that the TPP agreement should embody.” The IIPA identified several copyright issues where “U.S. negotiators should engage with their Canadian counterparts once the latter arrive at the TPP negotiating table.” Those issues deal with Canada's copyright provisions on a making available right, piracy enforcement, hosting, linking, repeat infringers, statutory damages, term of protection, criminal remedies, and other issues, according to the submission. The next round of TPP negotiations will take place in Auckland, New Zealand, Dec. 3-12. The trade agreement's 11 member countries are Brunei, Chile, New Zealand, Singapore, United States, Australia, Peru, Vietnam, Malaysia, Canada, and Mexico. The Canadian Music Publishers Association (CMPA) executive director Catharine Saxberg said in a phone interview the elimination of the Cancon rules would "seriously affect the ability of Canadian songwriters to be heard." Saxberg said there is a long process ahead before that could become a reality. Stuart Johnston, president of the Canadian Independent Music Association (CIMA), said in a phone interview that Canadian content regulations have been a foundation of original growth for the Canadian independent music industry. “Canadian content regulation is one tool on which we can ensure Canadians can enjoy the Canadian music as produced by our independent artists,” Johnston said. “It’s one of those measures that has proven success and has enabled the industry to grow and then use that as a platform to export music worldwide.” Johnston said CIMA would “strongly caution” the government against entertaining discussions about eliminating the regulations. He said decisions of this magnitude should go through Parliament and a committee study, and should allow Canadians the opportunity to comment. A report by the C.D. Howe Institute in 2010 said the federal government, in an on-demand communications environment where content is abundant, should phase out its quotas for Canadian content and replace them with direct subsidies. “The transition from a push network, where entertainment choices were limited to that available at a given time, to a ‘pull’ network, where content is available on demand, will render many current tools obsolete,” the report said. It recommended bolstering the CBC and establishing new direct subsidy programs and sources of revenue to replace the quota system and “support the creation and promotion of Canadian cultural content.” news@thewirereport.ca --- CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story incorrectly attributed a statement to the CMPA that was posted on the website newcanadianmusic.ca. The CMPA did not respond to a request for comment by deadline Friday, but on Tuesday Saxberg told The Wire Report that the statement, as posted, was incorrectly attributed to the music publishers' group. The Wire Report apologises to the CMPA for this error.

U.S. industry group identifies Cancon regs as ‘trade barrier’ to tackle in TPP

News | 10/05/2012 7:41 pm EDT

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