Brussels, 25/04/2012 (Agence Europe) - Although the Socialists, Greens and Liberals want it to be rejected immediately, the Conservatives are keeping up the suspense over the fate of ACTA, which they are prepared to support if they obtain sufficient legal clarifications on the most controversial aspects of the agreement.
As we were going to press on Wednesday 25 April, the rapporteur to the European Parliament on the international anti-counterfeiting agreement, David Martin (S&D, United Kingdom), was presenting the members of the international trade committee, at a session attended by Commissioner Karel de Gucht, with his recommendation calling on the MEPs to reject an agreement which is controversial over its potential threats to civil liberties.
Before the debate, the four main political groups stated their position. Only the EPP will give its blessing to ACTA, provided that the Commission and member states provide legal clarity on two controversial points - the definition of the commercial scale for infringement of intellectual property rights and the role of internet service providers in the framework of digital counterfeiting. This position has been criticised by the S&D, which calls for the agreement to be rejected immediately. Also in favour of immediate rejection of the agreement, the ALDE pleaded on Wednesday in favour of the negotiation of multilateral agreements on the protection of intellectual property rights based on a sectorial approach depending on products (plastic goods, digital products, medicines, etc). In the view of the Greens/EFA, ACTA should never have been concluded in its current form and should clearly be “torpedoed once and for all”. (EH/transl.fl)