EU Legal Review Says ACTA Negotiators Broke The Law In Not Revealing Text To EU Parliament
from the so-sorry,-it's-secret dept
Remember back when the EU Parliament voted 663 to 13 against what was going on with ACTA negotiations? The EU negotiators, who worked for the EU Commission, not the EU Parliament, seemed to brush off Parliament's concerns. However, some in the Parliament asked their legal services to determine if the EU Commission was allowed to keep ACTA secret. While ACTA has now been released, the review still happened. Hephaestus points us to the news that the analysis found that negotiators were not allowed to keep the document secret (pdf) from Parliament, and that if it had continued to the Parliament could have taken legal action. The key points:- Confidentiality cannot be used as a justification for not complying with the obligation to keep Parliament fully informed. Where a degree of confidentiality is justified to ensure the proper conduct of negotiations, the Council and Commission may request that agreed measure on the confidentiality of the documents be applied.
- The obligation to inform Parliament cannot be modified or limited by any agreement among the institutions or by an arrangement with third parties which does not involve Parliament. Where documents originate from a third party, the Union negotiator may be justified in agreeing not to disclose such information without the consent of the third party concerned. In such circumstances, Parliament should nonetheless be provided with sufficient information.
- In the case of a persistent refusal to provide it with sufficient information, Parliament could initiate proceedings for illegal failure to act.
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Filed Under: acta, eu, secrecy, transparency
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THE GREAT COPYRIGHT SCAM - ENJOY
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f#ckyeah
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Re: f#ckyeah
Actually I don't see much moaning about the parliament - most of the moaning in the UK is about the Commission - although the really anti-EU types (eg UKIP) don't like the idea of the parliament they still sit in it - and usually do a pretty good job on all the other issues.
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Re: Re: f#ckyeah
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They wanted to join the clique
This is somewhat troubling to me. It essentially states: 'yes you could have kept it secret from the public, but not from us'. It almost reads as a plea for joining the clique; which if that were to happen would make the situation even more dangerous since those politicians don't really care to understand the matter.
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Re: They wanted to join the clique
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Re: Re: They wanted to join the clique
Now, back to the ACTA crap: this is about a trade agreement; it is not something you can keep private in the end and it certainly is not something you should keep private. The fact that the EU states 'yes maybe a "degree of confidentiality" might be necessary' is bad. Who do they need to keep it secret from ? Their own population. If not that ? The Antartic population maybe ?
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Re: Re: Re: They wanted to join the clique
I think that was a cautious legal opinion - that on some issues confidentiality might be needed - not necessarily on this issue.
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Re: Re: Re: Re: They wanted to join the clique
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: They wanted to join the clique
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Re:
Yes - that is certainly a big one - since how can the parliament agree to not knowing something without knowing it first - it's the old "Yes Minister" "Need to know" scam in a different form.
http://www.yes-minister.com/ypmseas2a.htm
"Sir Humphrey: "Now go in there and inform me of their conversation."
Bernard Woolley: "I'm not sure I can do that, Sir Humphrey. It might be confidential."
Sir Humphrey: "Bernard, the matter at issue is the defence of the realm and the stability of the government."
Bernard Woolley: "But you only need to know things on a need to know basis."
Sir Humphrey: "I need to know everything! How else can I judge whether or not I need to know it?"
Bernard Woolley: "So that means you need to know things even when you don't need to know. You need to know them not because you need to know them, but because you need to know whether or not you need to know. And if you don't need to know you still need to know, so that you know there is no need to know"
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Once again
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It is the rare lawyer in circumstances such as this who actually renders an independent and unbiased opinion. This is why, at least here in the US, courts tend to discount most such opinions.
The truly sad thing in that the hallmark of a good lawyer is the ability to provide "bad news" to a client in a way that makes the client pleased to have received such news.
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Nothing will happen.
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I think you've missed a salient point
Simple but effective unless parliament is willing to fight.
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