A fifth committee says 'no' to ACTA
88 views · Published 27 June 2012 · 1:57 · Indexed 8 November 2026
Channel: European Parliament · 2012 · News & Politics
Even its supporters admit it was flawed: the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, ACTA, originally negotiated behind closed doors, has finally been given the thumbs-down by the International Trade Committee. It's the fifth EP committee to reject it. A bid to delay the vote was defeated before the call for rejection was passed. It made ACTA's opponents happy. Extremely happy! It's rare in this Parliament, but four years of fighting indicates that we will probably win in plenary. There had been strong lobbying by those opposed to ACTA, including a petition to MEPs of almost 3 million signatures. But ACTA doesn't only cover music and video downloads, it's aimed at fighting intellectual property theft, which brought an appeal to members from the Commission. As I have said before, ACTA is not an attack on our liberties, it's a defence of our livelihoods. But creative arts and recording industry representatives had also lobbied. They are disappointed with the vote. The knowledge economy in Europe comprises as much as 120 million jobs, covering businesses in manufacturing, innovative and creative sectors. I think they'll all be very disappointed today. The MEP whose report may have killed ACTA says it was too vague, lacking clear definitions whilst introducing disproportionate sanctions. He admits intellectual property needs protecting. But not like this. I object to the content of that treaty, not to Europe defending intellectual property. If the Commission comes forward with more reasonable justifications and methods for defending intellectual property, I'll probably support them. The final decision will come at a plenary session in July. 22 EU states have signed the agreement but that will be negated if the Parliament as a whole says no. For the other signatories and Commission it'll mean going back to the drawing board. EuroparlTV video ID: afa44600-9741-45ee-88dc-a0770106b697
