European Parliament Votes to Lower ACTA Opacity

Social networking is great. How else would a third-year law student become “friends” with a member of European Parliament (MEP) if not for Facebook?
An MEP from Scotland happens to be my Facebook friend. After Nick Sarkozy implemented his “three-strikes” laws in France, the Scottish MEP made his voice heard, which caught my attention. He, along with many other MEPs, believed that one’s internet access should not be terminated unless there was a prior judicial ruling – in contrast to Sarkozy’s laws, which allow termination of internet access at the administrative level. This was around the time that ThePirateBay was shut down, and its founders sentenced to prison and ordered to pay damages. The MEP even had a web page advocating his position, with links to his Facebook page. Naturally, I clicked on his Facebook page and added him as a friend.
Now for the topic of this post: the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) – a far reaching and secretly negotiated treaty that may soon come into effect. This treaty, lobbied heavily by the motion picture industries and recording industries, has vast potential when it comes to reducing civil liberties. For example, the ACTA may subject you to searches of your laptop’s hard disk contents before any international flight (also applicable to iPhones, mp3 players, phones, and anything else that is arguably a computer). Or, imagine if Comcast could terminate your internet access permanently without a court of law having to say you did anything wrong (which is the state of affairs in France thanks to Sarkozy).
This treaty has been under secret negotiations since 2008. On March 10, 2010 however, the European Parliament voted for “maximum transparency”, among other things. My Facebook friend sent me the debrief from his group staff member:

“with an overwhelming majority of 633 : 13 : 16, the ACTA resolution was carried. The key Par 3 on transparency was carried even with 651 : 3 : 16 votes.
This overwhelming majority had been our Green political objective from the beginning, and we achieved it. However, it has not been easy, and it is to be seen whether this unity will hold in the upcoming months of the political struggle on the contents of ACTA and the (transparent or opaque) way it is negotiated.
Nightly backdoor deals and strange demands for separate and split votes had made the outcome of the vote doubtful until virtually the last minute. Many of our Green MEPs had to intervene on many fronts at strange hours; thanks to them all, wholeheartedly. They made that the first victory on ACTA is ours.
On the controversial issues, we obtained a sufficient majority:
- against EPP/ECR, the second part of Para 2 on the democratic legitimacy of the of the EU engagement in the ACTA negotiations was carried with 363 : 292 : 5
- our Amendment (together with ALDE) critizising the “calculated choice of the ACTA parties” to negotiate outside the frameworks of WIPO or WTO, was caried by the narrow margin of 331 : 326 : 8 (sorry, no RCV avaliable on this)
- our key amendment (together with SD) calling to continue ACTA negotiations but limit it on just the issue of Counterfeiting of Trademarks or Geographical Indications (hence cutting the entire dimension of copyrights and patents out of the ACTA negotiations) was carried with a large majority of 513 : 129 : 17. This is arguably the most important content message of the entire resolution, on which we need to build in the coming months. It was equally the paragraph on which the nightly skirmishes had focussed
- our amendment together with SD, ALDE and GUE to guarantee access to legitimate, affordable and safe medicinal products, including generics and innovatives, was carried by a grand majority of 573 : 60 : 22, proving again that the 5 year old EP unity on TRIPS and Health still holds.
Moreover, a GUE amendment was carrie calling on ACTA negotiators to establish a clause that no individual can be cut off of the Internet without a prior court case (346 : 306 : 12). This is important in the follow-up to the Telecom Package (though in the frame of the ACTA resolution the point is slightly out of frame, since we have the resolution say that ACTA should not have any clause on “three Strikes” in the first place.
As soon as RCVs are available, we will give you a more detailed picture about the contested items.”

In other words, European Parliament voted for transparency, voted to limit the ACTA negotiations to Trademarks and Geographical Indications, and voted in favor of establishing a clause in the ACTA so that no individual can be cut off of the Internet without a prior court case.
This is not the final word on the issue of the ACTA negotiations. The effect of this vote is basically a statement of the position of Parliament. They have expressed their wishes in the context of the ACTA, but do not have absolute legislative authority in the European Community, and even less authority when the rest of the prospective signatories to the ACTA (those situated outside of the European Community, like the US) are considered. The European Parliament and the Council of the European Union together form the bicameral legislative branch of the European Community, thus requiring the Council to approve the votes before the positions voted for may become effective. However, there has been talk of the European Parliament bringing a complaint to the European Court of Justice in the event that its resolutions do not carry their intended weight.
In summation, European Parliament has taken a position on transparency of the negotiations – it wants the negotiations to continue with maximum transparency. European Parliament also took a stand against laws like Sarkozy’s – it does not want a user’s Internet access to be terminated without a prior judicial ruling. Finally, the Parliament voted to limit the negotiations of the ACTA to trademarks and geographical indications.