EU Parliament Resolution Signals Support For ACTA

Share The European Parliament approved a resolution Nov 24 signaling its willingness to support a controversial trade agreement aimed at boosting international cooperation in combating counterfeiting and piracy.

The resolution calls on the commission, the European Union's regulatory arm, to move forward with submitting the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement to the European Council and parliament for a vote while stressing that the agreement "requires parliament's consent and, possibly, ratification by the member states in order to come into force." The parliament called on the commission "to confirm that ACTA's implementation will have no impact on fundamental rights and data protection, on the ongoing EU efforts to harmonize intellectual property rights enforcement measures, or on e-commerce," according to a parliament news release. Despite releasing a finalized text of the agreement last week, lower-level officials with the ACTA negotiating countries will meet next week in Sydney for a "legal scrub" of the document. The parliament's resolution reminded the commission that it must consult with the parliament before accepting or proposing any amendment to the current ACTA text.