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7th ANNUAL MEETING OF THE
TRANSATLANTIC CONSUMER DIALOGUE
April 16-19, 2005, Washington D.C.
GENERAL AGENDA
Saturday 16 / Sunday 17 April
Internal TACD Meetings
Venue: Washington Plaza Hotel, 10 Thomas Circle
NW
Sunday 17 April
TACD Reception
19.00 - 21.00: Welcome cocktail / buffet hosted by
TACD
Keynote address:
Hal Stratton, Chairman of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission
Commissioner Jon Leibowitz, Federal Trade Commission
Venue: Hotel Rouge, 1315 16th Street NW
Monday 18 April
Venue: U.S. State Department, 2201 C Street
NW
08.15 - 09.00: Coffee, juice and pastries.
Get through security and then informally meet fellow delegates,
reserve a seat and collect papers for the meeting.
09.00 - 10.40: Opening Session
Building on the Stakeholders Consultation – the Transatlantic Marketplace
that consumers need (open to media).
The state of U.S.-EU economic relations, the prospects and structure
of the forthcoming reinvigorated Transatlantic Economic Partnership,
and TACD's role within it.
Moderator: James Guest, President of Consumers Union
E. Anthony Wayne, Assistant U.S. Secretary of State for Economic and
Business Affairs (Acting as Under Secretary of State)
Markos Kyprianou, European Commissioner for Health and Consumer
Protection
Highlights of TACD's Recommendations: An invitation to the
US and EU to create a TEP that is transparent, participatory and
in the consumer interest –
Rhoda Karpatkin (Consumers Union) and Benedicte Federspiel (Danish Consumer Council), TACD Steering Committee
General discussion on issues arising from the presentations.
10.40 – 11.00 Coffee Break
11.00 - 13.30: Working Group meetings (closed
meetings, discussions unattributable)
Trade WG
Internet WG
13.30 - 14.45: Lunch
14.45 - 17.15: Working Group meetings (closed
meetings, discussions unattributable)
Food WG
Intellectual Property WG
17.30 - 18.00: Wrap-up and look to the future
(open to media)
Moderator: Jim Murray, Director of BEUC
Peter Chase, Director of Regional Affairs, Bureau of European
and Eurasian Affairs, State Department - response to the day's discussions
Veronique Arnault, Head of Unit, DG Health and Consumer
Protection, European Commission - response to the day's discussions
Jim Murray, Director of BEUC
- response to day's discussions, and announcement of the priorities
of each Working Group for the coming year
18.30: Reception at the European Commission Delegation
Venue: 2300 M Street, NW, Washington, DC 20037
Tuesday 19 April
Towards Fairer Food and Agricultural Markets
Venue: German Embassy to the United States,
4645 Reservoir Road NW
The workshop seeks to establish a broad basis of dialogue on
food and agricultural policy. It will examine developments in
the food chain, EU and US agricultural policy, and the WTO negotiations
on reforming agricultural trade. We will discuss how fairer food
and agricultural markets can be achieved.
9.00-9.30 Registration
9.30-10.15 Welcome and overview of the workshop
Rhoda Karpatkin, President Emeritus of Consumers Union
Phil Wall, Agricultural Trade Policy, Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs, U.S. State Department
Notis Lebessis, DG Agriculture, European Commission
Friedrich Wacker, Minister-Counselor for Consumer Affiars,
Food and Agriculture, German Embassy to the United States
10.15-10.30 Coffee Break
10.30-12.15 Market share concentration in the
food chain and consumer interests
Moderator: Steve Suppan, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy
Mary Hendrickson, University of Missouri
Loek Boonekamp, OECD Agriculture Directorate food chain
expert
Claudio Lara, Consumers International Latin America Office
13.30-15.15 Developments in EU and US Agricultural
Policy
Moderator: Jill Johnstone, National Consumers Council
Carol Goodloe, U.S. Department of Agriculture
Notis Lebessis, DG Agriculture, European Commission
Rasmus Kjeldahl, President of BEUC, European Consumers Organisation
Daryll Ray, University of Tennessee-Knoxville
15.15-15.30 Coffee Break
15.45-17.30 The WTO negotiations, agricultural
dumping and TACD's proposals for reform
Moderator: Jim Murray, BEUC
Debra Henke, U.S. Food and Agricultural Services Representative
Jean Marc Trarieux, Agricultural Attaché, EC Delegation
in Washington
Mark Ritchie, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy
Amadou Kanoute, Director of the Consumers International
Africa Office
Closing remarks from Jill Johnstone, National Consumers
Council and Steve Suppan, Institute for Agriculture and Trade
Policy
TACD is very grateful to the German Embassy for providing
the venue and refreshments, and to the Heinrich Böll Foundation
for its support for this meeting.
Tuesday 19 April
Patents for Poets and Policy Wonks
Venue: Washington Plaza Hotel, 10 Thomas Circle
NW
09.00: Introduction: Felix Cohen and Ed Mierzwinski,
(TACD Steering Committee members)
09.15: Opening comments by US government and European
Commission
Jens Gaster, DG Internal Market, European Commission
Paul Salmon, US Patent and Trademark Office
10.00: Josh Sarnoff – What is a patent?
10.15 - 11.00: Panel – What should be patented?
Moderator: Anna Fielder, Consumers International
Medicines - Sarah Lenz Lock, AARP
Life forms - Michael Hansen, Consumers Union
Methods of business and finance - Phil Evans, Which?
11.00 - 11.15: Coffee Break
11.15 - 12.30: What should be patented? (continued)
Moderator: Karel Pavlik, Czech consumer organisation SOS
Software - Cornelia Kutterer, BEUC (European Consumers Organisation)
Education and teaching - Manon Ress, Consumer Project on Technology
12.30 - 13.30: Lunch
13.30 - 15.00: Patents on standards - What is
the reform agenda?
Moderator: Machiel van der Velde, Consumentenbond, Netherlands
Issues to discuss: ideas on patents and standards, ideas on essential interfaces.
Brian Kahin, University of Michigan
Michael R. Nelson, IBM
James Love, Consumer Project on Technology
15.00 - 15.15 Coffee Break
15.15 - 16.45: Five miscellaneous policy wonk
questions
Moderator: Rhoda Karpatkin, President Emeritus of Consumers Union
Ramo Rao, World Intellectual Property Organisation
Mark Silbergeld, Consumer Federation of America
Brian Kahin, University of Michigan
Stephen Merrill, National Academy of Sciences
Michelle Childs, Consumer Project on Technology
1. What is patent quality, and why is bad patent quality
important to consumers?
2. What type of research exceptions are needed?
3. Should governments formally recognize humanitarian exceptions
to patent rights?
4. How much can patents differ by field of technology?
5. What is the future of patent harmonization?
16.45 - 17.00: Open discussion and next steps,
chaired by Machiel van der Velde and James Love (co-chairs of
TACD's IP Working Group)
TACD is very grateful to the Rockefeller Foundation and the Open Society Institute for its support for this meeting.
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