European Parliament rejects ACTA
July 4, 2012 by Network Security
Filed under News
Following latest suggestions by a variety of European committees, the notorious Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement has been taken down these days by the European Parliament in Strasbourg.
With 478 associates of the parliament voting against the contract, 39 in benefit and 165 refraining from the election, ACTA has continual a serious strike – in this type, at least.
The Parliament’s choice successfully indicates that Western participant declares cannot now be a part of the contract, despite the point that many of them have originally finalized it.
ACTA’s objective to secure perceptive propriety, especially that of electronic products, by defending and intensely sanctioning those who discuss songs, films and application online has been discovered less important that defending the citizens’ privileges to Internet independence and comfort.
This was the first time that the European Parliament exercised its Lisbon Treaty power to reject an international trade agreement and, according to the press release issued by the Parliament, the final decision was heavily influenced by the “unprecedented direct lobbying by thousands of EU citizens who called on it to reject ACTA, in street demonstrations, e-mails to MEPs and calls to their offices.”
“This is a remarkable development that was virtually unthinkable even a year ago. Much credit goes to the thousands of Europeans who spoke out against ACTA and to the Members of the European Parliament who withstood enormous political pressure to vote against the deal,” Michael Geist, ACTA expert and vocal opponent, commented the news on his blog.
“ACTA is not yet dead – it may still eke out the necessary six ratifications in a year or two for it to take effect – but it is badly damaged and will seemingly never achieve the goals of its supporters as a model for other countries to adopt and to emerge as a new global standard for IP enforcement,” he added, advising ACTA opponents not to get complacent about this welcome but not final victory.
“In the coming weeks and months, we can expect new efforts to revive the agreement within Europe and to find alternative means to implement its provisions.”
