[x-pubpol] Delay ACTA vote, European Commission pleads

[Joly MacFie]

http://www.zdnet.co.uk/blogs/communication-breakdown-10000030/delay-acta-vote-european-commission-pleads-10025817/

By David Meyer , 5 April, 2012

The European Commission has asked the European Parliament not to vote
on the contentious Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement in June.

The Parliament is likely to reject ACTA , but the Commission has
argued that the vote should not take place until the European Court of
Justice (ECJ) has delivered a verdict on the treaty's compliance with
fundamental rights. The Commission formally referred ACTA to the court
on Wednesday.


The Commission announced in February that it intended to make the
referral, ostensibly in response to widespread fears that the
copyright crackdown agreement will limit freedom of expression and
privacy.

However, activists said the Commission's move was a trick designed to
head off a quick and final rejection, and the Parliament's trade
committee INTA decided late last month not to make a parallel referral
to the court.

"Considering that tens of thousands of people have voiced their
concerns about ACTA, it is appropriate to give our highest independent
judicial body the time to deliver its legal opinion on this
agreement," trade commissioner Karel De Gucht said in a statement on
Wednesday.

"This is an important input to European public and democratic debate.
I therefore hope that the European Parliament will respect the
European Court of Justice and await its opinion before determining its
own position on ACTA," De Gucht said.

Many groups in the European Parliament are outright opposed to ACTA,
including the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D),
the Greens/European Free Alliance (EFA, which includes the Pirate
Party) and the European United Left/Nordic Green Left group.


Even the centre-right European People's Party (EPP), which dominates
all branches of European-level government, has indicated that it is
unhappy with the idea of delaying a democratic parliamentary vote for
the year or two it will likely take the ECJ to make a decision.

The Parliament's Committee On Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE)
gave its draft opinion  on ACTA last week, recommending that the
Parliament reject the agreement on the basis that it "does not ensure
a fair balance between the right to intellectual property and the
freedom to conduct business, the right to protection of personal data
and the freedom to receive or impart information".
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-%2f%2fEP%2f%2fNONSGML%2bCOMPARL%2bPE-483.518%2b01%2bDOC%2bPDF%2bV0%2f%2fEN

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