Three European Parliament committees reject ACTA

All three advisory committees rejected the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) but their positions will not bind the Trade Committee which is the lead committee expected to take its own position on 21 June.

The file will then be passed on to the full House which must then decide whether the Agreement should be endorsed for it to enter into force.  

Civil Liberties MEPs said that EU’s fundamental rights were not being respected by ACTA while the Industry Committee said the agreement did not balance the rights and freedoms of various stakeholders.

The Legal Affairs Committee voted against the ACTA despite recommendations to vote in favour.

The Civil Liberties Committee said that the International Trade Committee should recommend rejection of the ACTA by the European Parliament. The Committee position was adopted by 36 votes to one with 21 abstentions.

Respecting private life or full protection of sensitive personal information was not being ensured by ACTA according the Civil Liberties.

Voting 31 votes to 25 to reject ACTA, the Industry Committee said the ACTA failed to balance intellectual property rights, business freedom, protection of personal data and the freedom to receive or send information.

The committee added that the agreement failed to acknowledge certain features of each sector with regards to intellectual property and could cause legal uncertainty for European firms due to lack of definitions within the text.

Two abstentions were made during voting within the Legal Affairs Committee which voted by 12 votes to 10, to reject the endorsement of ACTA.