Brussels, 19/06/2012 (Agence Europe) - The European Parliament (EP) petitions committee decided on Tuesday 19 June to keep open five complaints calling on MEPs to reject the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), one of them supported by over 2.8 million people.
Before taking a decision, the petitions committee also wants to wait for the results of the final votes of the international trade committee on 21 June and the EP as a whole in plenary session, and the ruling by the Court of Justice, to which ACTA was referred by the Commission at the end of April.
Four EP committees (civil liberties, industry, legal affairs and development) have already recommended that Parliament should reject ACTA.
The multilateral ACTA was negotiated outside the WTO and behind closed doors by Australia, Canada, Japan, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, the United States and the EU. It seeks to protect intellectual property from traditional forms of counterfeiting (clothing, medicines) and also from digital counterfeiting (illegal downloading) on the basis of international harmonised standards. It is highly controversial because of its lack of clarity with regard to fundamental rights. (EH/transl.rt)