[P2P-F] Fwd: [fcf_discussion] ACTA Adopted By EU Governments, Now in EU Parliament's Hands

Wed Dec 14 16:17:04 CET 2011

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: La Quadrature du Net <jz at laquadrature.net>
Date: Wed, Dec 14, 2011 at 3:36 PM
Subject: [fcf_discussion] ACTA Adopted By EU Governments, Now in EU
Parliament's Hands
To: fcforum_discussion at list.fcforum.net

Themes: ACTA, EU, INTERNET, COPYRIGHT, CENSORSHIP, WTO, EU PARLIAMENT

La Quadrature du Net - For immediate release

Permanent Link:
https://www.laquadrature.net/en/acta-adopted-by-eu-governments-now-in-eu-parliaments-hands

ACTA Adopted By EU Governments, Now in EU Parliament's Hands

*** Paris, December 14th 2011 – EU Member States –represented by the
Council of the EU– adopt today the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement
(ACTA), which aims at imposing new criminal sanctions and privatized online
censorship in the name of copyright. The text will now be sent to the
European Parliament, which has a chance to oppose it. Citizens must act to
ensure their freedoms online are protected by having ACTA finally rejected.
***

After the adoption of the legal instrument allowing its signature by the EU
Council this afternoon [1], the ACTA agreement will be formally signed this
weekend by European governments, during a meeting of the World Trade
Organization in Geneva [2]. This signature marks the beginning of the next
phase, where ACTA will be headed towards the EU Parliament, which will
accept or reject it in the next months, after elaborating its report [3].

For EU members states and the Commission, who along with the US and Japan
have pushed for ACTA [4], ACTA aims to impose measures that they know would
be unacceptable if properly debated in democratic arenas. Member States
will thus force privatized online censorship in the guise of “cooperation”
[5] between the entertainment industry and Internet actors [6]. This
transformation of internet actors into a private copyright police and
justice will be made possible under the threat of new, harsh criminal
sanctions [7].

The ratification process in the Parliament is already characterized by the
absence of transparency. The EU Parliament has refused to publish its legal
services' full opinion on ACTA, saying that it would “seriously interfere
with the complex ratification process” [8]. Citizens now have a major role
to play in making sure Members of the European Parliament face their
responsibilities by rejecting this dangerous text.

“Our governments are bypassing democratic processes to impose draconian
repressive measures. They know that such measures would be very difficult
to obtain through regular legislative process, so they have them imposed
through the back door. By privatizing online censorship in the name of
copyright, ACTA would have a dreadful impact on our freedoms online, but
also on innovation and growth for Internet companies. The European
Parliament is our last chance to reject ACTA. We, as citizens, must act
now.”, said Jérémie Zimmermann, spokesperson for La Quadrature du Net.

* References *

1. See the EU Council agenda for today:
http://www.consilium.europa.eu/ueDocs/cms_Data/docs/pressData/EN/foraff/126900.pdf
“The Council is expected to adopt a decision authorising the signing of an
anti-counterfeiting trade agreement (ACTA) between the EU and Australia,
Canada, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand,
Singapore, Switzerland and the United States.”

2. Information about this meeting:
http://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/minist_e/min11_e/min11_e.htm

3. The International Trade (INTA) Committee of the European Parliament is
the main committee working on ACTA. The Legal Affairs (JURI) and
Development (DEVE) committees, as well as the Civil Liberties (LIBE),
Industry (ITRE) committees will first vote on their opinions. The latter
will be sent to INTA to influence its final report. See ACTA's procedure
file (which still needs to be updated with LIBE and ITRE opinions):
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/oeil/file.jsp?id=5924982

4. See the history of ACTA, as told by the US diplomatic cables released by
WikiLeaks:
http://www.laquadrature.net/en/wikileaks-cables-offer-new-insight-on-the-history-of-acta

5. In its article 27.3, ACTA calls for “cooperation” between rights-holders
and Internet service providers. The very same mechanisms are called by the
European Commission “extra-judicial measures” and “alternative to courts”.
See:
http://www.laquadrature.net/en/acta-updated-analysis-of-the-final-version

6. Internet intermediaries such as access, service or hosting providers.

7. See La Quadrature du Net's analysis of Article 23.4 on criminal
sanctions: It is intolerable that criminal sanctions are included in a
“trade agreement”. Such measures should only be debated in democratic
arenas. Moreover, the limit between “aiding” infringements and linking to
or indexing information is extremely blurry.
Criminal sanctions must be provided for “commercial scale” infringements.
The notion of commercial scale is excessively broad in scope, including
indirect advantage. Again,see:
http://www.laquadrature.net/en/acta-updated-analysis-of-the-final-version

8. See the following FFII article: http://acta.ffii.org/?p=904 “according
to the legal services of the EU Parliament: ‘Important trading partners of
the EU, such as the United States, Canada, Japan, Korea and Switzerland are
contracting parties to the ACTA agreement. Disclosure of the parts of the
legal opinion under consideration dealing with questions 1, 2 and 3 would
seriously interfere with the complex ratification procedures of the ACTA
agreement and the EU’s relations with the other contracting parties, as it
might prejudice the ratification procedures by these countries’.”

** About la Quadrature du Net **

La Quadrature du Net is an advocacy group that promotes the rights and
freedoms of citizens on the Internet. More specifically, it advocates for
the adaptation of French and European legislations to respect the founding
principles of the Internet, most notably the free circulation of knowledge.

In addition to its advocacy work, the group also aims to foster a better
understanding of legislative processes among citizens. Through specific and
pertinent information and tools, La Quadrature du Net hopes to encourage
citizens' participation in the public debate on rights and freedoms in the
digital age.

La Quadrature du Net is supported by French, European and international
NGOs including the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Open Society
Institute and Privacy International.

List of supporting organisations:
https://www.laquadrature.net/en/they-support-la-quadrature-du-net

** Press contact and press room **

Jérémie Zimmermann, jz at laquadrature.net, +33 (0)615 940 675

http://www.laquadrature.net/en/press-room

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