EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT

OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES TRADE REPRESENTATIVE

WASHINGTON, D C 20508

 

SEP 20, 2001

 

Mr. John R. White

Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director

Association for Computing Machinery

1515 Broadway

New York, New York 10036-5701

 

Dear Dr. White:

 

Thank for your letter to Ambassador Zoellick concerning the anticircumvention provision of the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas (FTAA). He asked that I respond on his behalf.

 

As you know, the anticircumvention provisions currently in U.S. law were enacted by Congress in 1998 as part of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). The DMCA in general, and the anticircumvention provision in particular, represents a hard-fought set of compromises that are fully satisfying to few but acceptable to most.

 

I believe that it would be inappropriate and counter-productive to reopen the debate on anti circumvention by unilaterally abandoning the compromise of the DMCA in the context of the FTAA. That is why the text of the FTAA is crafted to carefully replicate that compromise in language suited to the international context. In response to concerns that have been raised on all sides, that language is being reviewed to make certain that it faithfully replicate both the general prohibitions on circumvention and the exceptions to those prohibitions that are part of the DMCA. I can assure you that the final product that the United States takes into negotiations will fairly reflect the compromise of the DMCA.

 

Thank you for your interest in this important matter. If you have any further questions, you may wish to contact me or my staff.

 

Sincerely,

Joseph S. Papovich

Assistant United States Trade Representative

for Services, Investment and Intellectual Property