Business News Labels & Publishers Legal Top Stories

MEP reckons European Parliament will vote against ACTA

By CMU Editorial | Published on Wednesday 20 June 2012

The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement will be blocked by the European Parliament, according to Alexander Alvaro, a German MEP who sits on various committees within the EU legislature, including one concerned with civil liberties.

As much previously reported, although already ratified by numerous EU countries directly, and technically the EU itself, the global intellectual property agreement is still to be considered by the European Parliament. Although the treaty has had its critics from the start, most criticising the secrecy that surrounded its drafting, it’s only really since countries started ratifying the agreement late last year that public opinion has rallied against it. Some European countries that intended to sign the document, but didn’t when the rest of the EU opted in, have since held back because of public opposition.

Opponents say the agreement will allow opted-in countries to sneak in draconian new intellectual property laws by claiming international obligations. Though supporters in Europe insist that obligations set out in ACTA are no different to existing obligations under European law, so the agreement will have little affect here, and will instead bring other countries elsewhere in the world in line with our expectations.

Nevertheless, all four committees in the European Parliament that have now discussed ACTA have ultimately opposed the agreement, though the most important group – the International Trade Committee – is yet to reveal its viewpoint. That should happen tomorrow, after which the treaty can go to the full Parliament for a vote.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Alvaro told Medienforum NRW, a media conference in Germany: “I don’t think I’m giving anything away when I say I expect the parliament will reject ACTA. Are we justified in rejecting it? No. Is it sensible to do so? Yes”.

As opposition to ACTA in the European Parliament is no secret, Alvaro’s latter point is probably more interesting. Some opponents of the agreement claim it breaches some fundamental EU rights. Not so, reckons the MEP, who says he believes ACTA is in fact compatible with both German and European law. However, he says his Parliament will be right to reject the agreement anyway because of the way it was negotiated without public scrutiny.

Noting the agreement will “affect about 1 billion people worldwide”, Alvaro added: “Legislation that impacts on such a large portion of the world’s population can’t be decided by a small group without the cooperation of these people and transparency”.

In the same vein, he added that he had similar concerns about new European copyright protection legislation being discussed right now, which he reckoned could provide a framework for extending the so called three-strikes system to combat online piracy across Europe. The Parliament should not support proposals created in a non-transparent and non-democratic manner, he concluded.

With regards ACTA, Alvaro’s comments were not all bad news for supporters of the treaty. Because while the European Parliament may dislike the way the agreement was negotiated – and may vote against it on those grounds – if MEPs concede that provisions in the document do not actually breach any individual rights protected by European Law, then those EU countries that have signed up to the treaty directly will likely be able to remain allied to it.

As also previously reported, the European Courts Of Justice are also considering whether any EU rights are infringed by ACTA.