European Parliament Panel Seeks Assurance ACTA Won’t Require “Three-Strikes” Set-Ups
Despite the European Commission’s insistence that the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement won’t harm Internet users or ISPs, European lawmakers remain skeptical, some said Tuesday. EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht updated the European Parliament Civil Liberties Committee on the latest round of ACTA talks, held June 28-July 1 in Lucerne, Switzerland. The negotiations produced another draft document, which De Gucht said will be given to the Parliament on the condition that it not be leaked.
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ACTA’s purpose is dealing with large-scale intellectual property rights (IPR) infringements that have a significant commercial impact and “is not about controlling travelers on the content of their laptops or their computer,” De Gucht said. It won’t lead to civil-liberties reductions or to harassment of consumers, he said. He asked lawmakers with lingering doubts to point out examples of threats to civil liberties in the current text.
ACTA is about enforcement only and won’t change national substantive law on IPR, De Gucht said. It will remain in line with EU community law, including the current level of harmonization of IPR enforcement, the e-commerce directive, telecom regulations and applicable laws on data protection and privacy, he said. De Gucht stressed that the agreement won’t force signing countries to adopt a “three-strikes” or graduated response approach to copyright infringements, including online.
Many disagreements remain, De Gucht said. The EU wants designs and geographical indications covered, but several other countries want ACTA to deal only with copyrights and trademarks, he said. Without the broader scope, the point of an agreement is unclear, he said.
Socialist Member Stavros Lambrinidis, of Greece, said he remains concerned that the document leaves the door open to laws such as France’s three-strikes measure. He asked the EC to ensure that the final draft has no direct or indirect reference to such a provision. ACTA doesn’t bar three-strikes, said De Gucht. It leaves it up to national governments -- and maybe the EU, which could decide at some point to adopt legislation on the subject, he said.
Negotiators have been under strong lobbying by the entertainment industries that view the “20th century world with 19th century eyes,” Lambrinidis said. He asked De Gucht whether language in the previous draft that set criminal penalties for commercial-scale downloading not for financial gain, and a provision allowing governments to require ISPs to give rights owners information about users downloading music, are still in the text. De Gucht said “commercial scale” isn’t defined in EU law, leaving it to each country to decide, and the definition won’t be in ACTA, either. He said provisions regarding ISPs are in line with the e-commerce directive, which gives them immunity when they act as “mere conduits,” and there will be no new obligations.
Lawmakers remain concerned by the secrecy surrounding the talks. The EU convinced its partners to release the text in April, De Gucht said. In Lucerne, release was blocked again by one country, in a decision that the EC regrets, he said. De Gucht did not name the country that objected. The work done there was “mostly a matter of reaching compromise where different options were on the table,” and no new provisions were added, he said. The next round is expected to take place at the end of this month in Washington.