ACTA

ACTA is one more offensive against the sharing of culture on the Internet. ACTA (Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement) is an agreement secretly negotiated by a small "club" of like-minded countries (39 countries, including the 27 of the European Union, the United States, Japan, etc). Negotiated instead of being democratically debated, ACTA bypasses parliaments and international organizations to dictate a repressive logic dictated by the entertainment industries.

ACTA, a blueprint for laws such as SOPA and PIPA, would impose new criminal sanctions forcing Internet actors to monitor and censor online communications. It is thus a major threat to freedom of expression online and creates legal uncertainty for Internet companies. In the name of trademarks and patents, it would also hamper access to generic medicines in poor countries.

The European Parliament now has an ultimate opportunity to reject ACTA.

Quad'news

Press review

ACTA Procedure in the EU Parliament

  • The International Trade (INTA) Committee of the European Parliament is the main committee working on ACTA.
  • The Legal Affairs (JURI), Development (DEVE), Civil Liberties (LIBE) and the Industry (ITRE) committees will first vote on their opinions after holding “exchange of views” on draft reports in the coming weeks.
  • Opinions will then be sent to INTA to influence its final report, which will recommend the EU Parliament as a whole to reject or accept ACTA.
  • The final, plenary vote by the EU Parliament on ACTA should be held no sooner than June.

Timeline

Future

  • Mid 2012 - Consent vote in the European Parliament (Last chance to reject ACTA!).
  • February 29, 2012 - The European Parliament's “development” (DEVE) committee adopt its opinion report.
  • March 1st, 2012 - The European Parliament's “international trade” (INTA) committee holds its first exchange of views on ACTA.

Past

  • December 16th, 2011 - The Council of the European Union adopts legal instrument for ACTA ratification
  • October 1st, 2011 - Canada, Australia, Japan, Morocco, New Zealand, South Korea, Singapore & the United States sign ACTA
  • May 27th, 2011 - EU Commission releases the final version of ACTA, which is now open to signature
  • September 23rd - October 1st 2010 - Eleventh and last round of negotiations held in Tokyo, Japan
  • September 9th, 2010 - Adoption of the written declaration 12/2010 in the European Parliament
  • August 16th-20th, 2010 - Tenth round of negotiations held in Washington, USA
  • July 13th, 2010 - Consolidated version of the ACTA text dated July 1st, 2010
  • June 28th - July 1st 2010 - Ninth round of negotiations held in Luzern, Switzerland
  • April 21st, 2010 - The negotiating parties published the documents of the eighth round of negotiations held in Wellington
  • April 12th-16th, 2010 - Eighth round of negotiations held in Wellington, New Zealand
  • January 26th-29th, 2010 - Seventh round of negotiations held in Mexico
  • November 3rd-6th, 2009 - Sixth round of negotiations held in Seoul, South Korea
  • July 16th-17th, 2009 - Fifth round of negotiations held in Rabat, Morocco
  • March 2009 - The European Parliament passes a resolution calling for the public availability of all ACTA materials. The U.S. government denies requests for access to ACTA documents on national security grounds but promises to review its approach.
  • December 15th-18th, 2008 - Fourth round of negotiations held in Paris, France
  • October 8th-9th, 2008 - Third round of negotiations held in Tokyo, Japan
  • July 29th-31st, 2008 - Second round of negotiations held in Washington, DC
  • June 3rd-4th, 2008 - First round of negotiations held in Geneva
  • November 2007 - April 2008 - Governments conduct initial consultations on ACTA.
  • October 2007 - The United States, European Union, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, New Zealand, Switzerland, and Canada announce plans to negotiate ACTA.

Video: NO to ACTA


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Dossier

Reference documents

Robocopyright ACTA


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