ACTA Approval On Hold While EU Commission Asks EU Court Of Justice To Weigh In
from the this-could-be-interesting dept
It appears that ACTA's main political backers, the EU Commission, have finally realized that they were increasingly in trouble in terms of actually getting ACTA ratified. The EU's main negotiator on ACTA, Karel De Gucht has now said that the Commission is going to ask the EU Court of Justice to weigh in on ACTA:In recent weeks, the ratification process of ACTA has triggered a Europe-wide debate on ACTA, the freedom of the internet and the importance of protecting Europe’s Intellectual Property for our economies.This could get interesting. As we've noted in recent weeks, the EU Court of Justice has actually been pretty good lately in expressing concerns about overbroad copyright enforcement.
But let me be very clear: I share people’s concern for these fundamental freedoms. I welcome that people have voiced their concerns so actively – especially over the freedom of the internet. And I also understand that there is uncertainty on what ACTA will really mean for these key issues at the end of the day.
So I believe that putting ACTA before the European Court of Justice is a needed step. This debate must be based upon facts and not upon the misinformation or rumour that has dominated social media sites and blogs in recent weeks.
Of course, other parts of De Gucht's statement are pretty questionable. He talks about how the EU Council "adopted ACTA unanimously" leaving out that they did so by hiding it in an agriculture and fisheries meeting. He talks about how ACTA "will not change anything in the European Union" but is merely about "getting other countries to adopt" stricter laws. However, some EU countries have already noted that they would have to change their laws to comply with ACTA.
Either way, it will be worth following the specifics of exactly what the EU Court of Justice is asked to review and how the process works.
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Filed Under: acta, eu, eu court of justice, karel de gucht
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Talk about arrogance.
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Smokescreen?
My understanding was the problem is not the legality of ACTA, but the potential for abuse and concomitant collateral damage; as well as the subsequent inability of countries to change their own laws afterward.
If that is the case, then this whole thing is a smoke-screen, so the EU Commission can come back and say, "Hey, the EU Court of Justice says ACTA's perfectly legal? So what's your problem?"
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Narrow Question asked of Court
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As someone has noted the Court may not have the juridicition to take on this reference which makes it both moot and political gamesmanship. The latter being all that may get EU member states and the EU parliament left that might get it passed.
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