EU Parliament Rejects Piracy Pact

By Jacob Anbinder

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
BRUSSELS—European legislators dealt a blow to the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, rejecting by a large margin the controversial treaty designed to better protect intellectual property around the world.
 
The decision Wednesday makes it highly unlikely that the 27-nation bloc will approve the treaty in its current form and increases the likelihood that the global agreement, which the U.S. has strongly supported, will never come into force. The pact, known as ACTA, aims to create an international system of anti-counterfeiting and property-rights protection measures.
 
"ACTA is now dead in the EU," said European lawmaker David Martin in a statement, adding that the treaty was "wrong from the start."
 
He added that "It was negotiated in secret and tries to put together incomparable elements in the same treaty."
 
The European Parliament voted in Strasbourg 478-39 against approving the treaty, a move that comes after five parliamentary committees also had recommended turning it down. The final vote tally was met with loud cheers from lawmakers opposed to the plan, who waved signs reading, "Hello Democracy, Goodbye ACTA" on the floor of the Parliament.
 
Thus far, 22 EU member states, EU officials and eight other countries have signed the treaty, but it hasn't yet been ratified by any Parliament. Six of the signatories need to ratify ACTA for it to take effect. The EU could have been one of the six, but without the assent of the Parliament neither Brussels nor any EU member state can ratify it.
 
The EU's executive, the European Commission, signed ACTA in January. However, a month later, amid rising protests over the treaty, the commission asked the European Court of Justice to weigh in on the agreement—a process that could take another year. That move effectively sidelined the agreement's progress in Europe and led many to conclude Brussels wouldn't push it. After Wednesday's vote, the commission stuck to its line that it wasn't giving up on the treaty.
 
"The European Commission will take on-board the opinion of the ECJ and the issues raised across the European political spectrum," said Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht in a statement. "We will then consult with our international partners on how to move forward on this issue."
 
The decisive rejection of the treaty suggested lawmakers from across the political spectrum had turned against the agreement. The center-right European People's party, which had previously asked lawmakers to wait for the court's ruling, let its members vote freely on Wednesday.
 
The Parliament couldn't immediately give a breakdown of Wednesday's vote outcome by party.
 
ACTA has come under fire from civil-liberties advocates ever since news of its development came to light in 2008. It was negotiated largely behind closed doors, and both EU and American officials have declined requests to release certain preliminary documents from the ACTA talks.
 
The bulk of the condemnation focused on the new international body ACTA would create. Though the treaty's supporters say the organization would simply protect against counterfeiting, critics voiced concerns that it will have the power to monitor a vast array of global industries, from pharmaceuticals to computer software. Last winter, demonstrators across Europe took to the streets to protest against the treaty, a sign of increasing disapproval from the European public.
 
"It was a very bad proposal on every level," said Kirsten Fiedler, a spokeswoman for European Digital Rights, who called the vote "a very important victory."
 
While ACTA seems to have a dwindling number of European supporters, the U.S. government has continued to back the measure. Last month, the deputy U.S. trade representative said the treaty "will help protect the intellectual property that is essential to American jobs in innovative and creative industries." American officials couldn't be reached to comment after the European vote, due to the Fourth of July federal holiday.
 
But there is some evidence that U.S. officials, too, are becoming skeptical about the treaty's prospects. They have begun to push the Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership Agreement, a treaty that has some similarities to ACTA but doesn't involve Europe.