EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – Final negotiations for a controversial Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (Acta) have been completed in Tokyo, with EU sources insisting that the draft accord will not restrict the freedoms of EU citizens or require legislative changes.
Wednesday’s final text includes chapters on ‘civil enforcement’, ‘border measures’ and ‘enforcement of intellectual property rights in the digital environment’, sparking fears earlier this year that the Acta legal framework could result in large scale monitoring of internet users.
Some critics were still sceptical about the final text, however. “Whatever happens, it’s still circumvention of the democratic process,” Jérémie Zimmermann, the co-founder of the French digital rights group La Quadrature du Net, told the technology website ZDNet UK.
http://euobserver.com/9/30976