Europees Parlement wil meer inzicht in de totstandkoming van de Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (en)
MEPs have called for more transparency in the ongoing negotiations for a global anti-counterfeiting trade agreement (ACTA) and have asked the Commission i to make all related documents public. Parliament insists that ACTA should not restrict access to legal, affordable and safe medicines.
ACTA is a planned new multilateral agreement between the EU i and other countries such as the US, Canada, Japan, Australia and Mexico aimed at combating infringements of intellectual property rights, for example the piracy of music, films and clothing.
Full transparency
By Thursday, a majority of MEPs had signed a written declaration calling on the Commission to make all documents relating to the ongoing negotiations publicly available. A declaration supported by more than half the total number of MEPs is deemed to represent the official position of Parliament.
The declaration argues that the agreement should not impose harmonisation of EU copyright, patent or trademark law nor weaken fundamental rights such as freedom of expression and the right to privacy.
Access to safe medicines
It emphasises that economic and innovation risks must be evaluated before introducing criminal sanctions where civil measures are already in place. In addition, ACTA should not harm global access to legal, affordable and safe medicines.
Plenary debate
In the plenary debate on 8 September, Trade Commissioner Karel de Gucht i reassured MEPs that ACTA would not be "about checking on the content of travellers’ laptops or computers", and would "not lead to limitation of civil liberties or harassment of consumers".
The agreement "will not change any EU legislation through the back door", he added. Mr De Gucht also said ACTA would not hamper access to generic medicines. As to transparency, he promised that the Commission would continue to keep Parliament abreast of the negotiations.
Background
Parliament adopted a resolution last March calling for the negotiations to be transparent. MEPs demanded then that no personal searches should be conducted at EU borders and that the agreement should not introduce any kind of "three strikes" internet disconnection as a penalty for three online copyright infringements.
The 10th round of ACTA negotiations was held in Washington from 16 to 20 August this year and the next round will take place in Tokyo from 23 September to 1 October.
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