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EU not ready to sign ACTA just yet

Written by Rich Fiscus @ 29 Sep 2011 9:34 User comments (5)

EU not ready to sign ACTA just yet The EU will not be participating in a signing ceremony for the ACTA (Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement) intellectual property treat according to a statement from the European Commission.
Earlier this week, the Japanese government released a statement announcing an October 1 signing event which suggested the EU would be among the signatories. In fact, it appears their representative will be one of three mentioned who will not be participating in the ceremony.

Yesterday Out-Law.com reported that a spokesperson for the European Commission corrected the earlier report in a statement:

The EU has not yet completed its internal procedures authorising the signature, therefore it will not be signing ACTA at this event. Neither will Mexico and Switzerland, since they did not conclude their domestic proceedings.



For the EU, the domestic process for signature is that the Council [of Ministers] adopts a decision authorising a EU representative to sign ACTA. Since this required the translation of the treaty in all the EU languages, such decision has not yet been adopted. It may still require a couple of months for the EU to be able to sign ACTA. After the signature, the European Parliament will have to vote its consent of ACTA.


The EU, and anyone else who doesn't sign the treaty initially, will have until May of 2013 to do so.

ACTA has been widely criticized, with complaints ranging from the way it was negotiated (in secret and at the direction of US entertainment industry lobbyists) to controversial requirements that would require major changes to both civil and criminal law in nearly every country involved in the agreement.

For example, it would require that minimum damages be mandated in copyright infringement cases. This is a key component of various lawsuit campaigns in the US, where such statutory damages already exist. The possibility of paying as much as $150,000 per violation makes the risk of defending yourself too high for most people.

Under ACTA, each country would also have to change copyright law to allow rights holders greater leeway in damage calculations for infringement lawsuits. In addition, it would require that rights holders be allowed to forbid the use of technological measures to circumvent copy protection, even when it is used to enable an otherwise legal activity.

The language in ACTA has been toned down significantly since early drafts of the document began leaking nearly two years ago. Still, there are serious questions about whether it would violate EU data protection laws or even various fundamental rights.

Read the full text (published by the European Commission) to decide for yourself.

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5 user comments

129.9.2011 10:38

Europe leads the way, but for how long?

229.9.2011 11:40

Originally posted by Frogfart:
Europe leads the way, but for how long?
Not for too long the EU has until sometime in 2013 to be forced to sign this, if they don't pretty much bad thing will happen to them..

This treaty is highly illegal,I've and small others on youtube have been trying to warn people of this sense day one of Acta...one thing I did not notice is how copyright Law's will be forced to be changed but for the Entertainment Industry can screw us over...

I bet you one day if somebody is arrested under Acta and charged by the New Copyright Law hell will freeze over to the ones for Acta(Bush,Obama RIAA and MPAA) their will most likely be Protests to the likes we never seen before

329.9.2011 15:34

Originally posted by Frogfart:
Europe leads the way, but for how long?
until some palms are greased.

429.9.2011 17:21

Originally posted by DXR88:
Originally posted by Frogfart:
Europe leads the way, but for how long?
until some palms are greased.
Maybe. You never know. All I know is that if these recent proposals go through, I don't see any choice but to ditch the country or work towards reform. The latter seems nearly impossible without some type of revolt of the "bourgeoisie," as this country is certainly no democracy and anything short of revolution en masse will simply be ignored or stifled with the millions of dollars in pocket change these corporate groups throw around.

I can't believe other countries are willing to go along with it, but I guess that temporary pocket change seems much more alluring than protecting the rights of peers.

I'll admit I didn't even know of the ACTA until recently, but since learning of it I have tried alerting everyone I know. It's just such obvious corporate corruption in (apparently global) government.

529.9.2011 21:43

Basically the people who make the most IP are agreeing that it should be protected to the point that it destroys individual rights...those who pay the most to license IP are saying it shouldn't be protected, but they wouldn't mind a law that just destroys individual rights.

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