The Europe Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement discussion had long been too far from being transparent. Talks about the implementation and negotiation terms of ACTA had been hidden to the members of the Europe Parliament and so they have banded together to address this lack of openness.
In addition to voting that talks about the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, the EU Parliament also agreed on voting against the internet disconnection proposed by the EU ACT for the penalty of copyright infringement.
EU Parliamentarians’ Displeasure of Lack of Transparency
This move by the EU Parliament only proves how dissatisfied the members are due to the lack of transparency of the members discussing the implementation of the frowned-upon ACTA.
Since the members of the EU Parliament proved that there has been no approval whatsoever regarding the ACTA, it’s only natural that the EU Parliament be involved in any and all talks about the ACTA.
Internet Disconnection and Copyright Infringement
This started when they got hold of information showing that the EU ACTA discussed the implementation of “internet disconnection for copyright infringers”.
Since then, the EU Parliament had been very clear about ACTA talks that there should be no personal rights to be trampled upon in the implementation of said ACTA. If not, it’s only right to vote against the ACTA, which we all know have already been done for a long time now.
ACTA Negotiations Open to Inspections
The EU Parliamentarians also decided that if ACTA is to be implemented, there should be no civil rights to be breached, in addition to the openness of ACTA negotiations to scrutiny. Thus, the succeeding rounds of ACTA negotiations after that decision became more transparent and many issues concerning ACTA arose and got addressed accordingly.
While this decision by the EU Parliament didn’t mean for the ACTA to be ignored and get fought against by the public, it’s aim is to make the discussion of the European Commission about ACTA be more open.
They also mentioned that instead of dropping the hammer of justice to copyright infringers, it should be focused on how to combat the said issue. EU Parliamentarians specifically stated that federal liberties shouldn’t be changed.
Regardless of whether the European Commission agree to this, the EU Parliament has the right to vote against the implementation of the ACTA. As of now, there have been no further discussions about this law, but we can’t be sure if the idea becomes open again to the European Commission.
