On June 21, the European Parliament’s Committee on International Trade (INTA) will vote on whether or not to recommend the approval of the Anticounterfeiting Trade Agreement. Four committees in recent weeks have recommended its rejection, but within the INTA the European People’s Party Group and the European Conservatives and Reformists Group (ECR) have proposed amendments that would keep ACTA alive. The full European Parliament is scheduled to vote on ratification of ACTA in the first week of July.
The committee could vote to approve the draft report by MEP David Martin, which recommends rejecting ACTA, it could recommend approving ACTA, or it could recommend that the European Parliament delay its vote until after the European Court of Justice reviews it – a move viewed as a delaying tactic by ACTA opponents.
For more information, see:
- Ante Wessells for the Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure. “Secret Vote on ACTA?”
- La Quadrature du Net. “Crucial ACTA Vote: Will INTA Committee Betray EU Citizens?”
- Caitlin Steffen for New Europe Online. “ACTA future remains uncertain before International Trade Committee vote.”
Mike Palmedo is the admin for infojustice.org, and he manages interdisciplinary research on copyright exceptions at American University College of Law's Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property. He has Masters degrees Economics and in International Affairs, and is an economics PhD candidate.
