As we reported earlier, tomorrow, Tuesday 24 January 2012, around 16.30 Paris time, the European Parliament Committee on Development will hold an exchange of views on ACTA. Today, the FFII sent the committee a letter. (pdf version) Dear Members of the Committee on Development, We are writing to express our concerns with the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA). Below we will present points which we...
Today the FFII sent a letter to the European Parliament about the EP legal service’s opinion on ACTA. (pfd version, see also press release) Dear Members of the European Parliament, In the coming months the Parliament will have to decide whether to give consent to ACTA (Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement) or not. In preparation, the INTA and JURI committees asked the Parliament’s legal service an...
Tuesday 24 January 2012, around 16.30 CET, the European Parliament Committee on Development will hold an exchange of views on ACTA. The Committee’s draft opinion is available here. Update: The Development committee may already vote on the draft opinion on February 29th. Update: see our letter to the committee. I think it is a disgusting draft, a scandal. All the lies the Commission has...
Pedro Velasco-Martins (EU-Commission DG Trade) explains the preconceptions and activism around the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA):
On 20 December 2011, the European Parliament Legal Affairs committee discussed ACTA. Video, debate starts at 11.31 According to MEP Marielle Gallo, rapporteur for ACTA, ACTA is compatible with the acquis, the current EU laws. In her draft opinion, which she will launch in January, she will try to respond to all criticism raised with respect to and against ACTA. She said that her...
We welcome the decision to release the European Parliament legal service’s opinion on ACTA (Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement). We have compared the legal service’s opinion with multiple academic opinions on ACTA and some civil society analyses. (pdf version) 1. Conclusion We found that many issues pointed out by academic opinions and the study commissioned by the EP International Trade committee (INTA) are not addressed by...
Tomorrow, 20 December 2011, the European Parliament Legal Affairs Committee will discuss ACTA. Today, the FFII sent a letter to the committee. Below and pfd. Dear Members of the Legal Affairs Committee, The world faces major challenges: access to medicine, diffusion of green technology needed to fight climate change, and a balanced Internet governance. While flexibility is essential to solve these major issues, the...
At a Dutch House of Representatives’ committee meeting, 13 December 2011, minister of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation, Maxime Verhagen, said the refusal to provide access to the European Parliament’s legal service’s opinion on ACTA is “crazy”. The European Parliament’s International Trade Committee asked the legal service for an opinion on ACTA. The opinion is ready and secret. The FFII requested the document. Mr...
The JURI Report, the newsletter of the European Parliament Legal Affairs Committee, is a very positive about ACTA. “Thus, it will provide benefits for EU exporting right holders operating in the global market who currently suffer systematic and widespread infringements of their copyrights, trademarks, patents, designs and geographical indications abroad.” Not a word about all the civil society and academic criticism on ACTA. The...
As things stand now, the European Parliament committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety will not formulate an opinion on ACTA. Despite all the analysis work done on the effects ACTA will have on access to medicine, and despite health groups informed the Parliament, no Member of Parliament has asked the committee to formulate one. It seems that there is not much awareness...
