The European Commission would intend to this coming weekend the controversial ACTA antipiraterijverdrag to sign. Meanwhile, ACTA motion of D66 against minister Verhagen rejected by an unexpected turn of the PVV.
To the ACTA treaty on behalf of the EU to be able to sign, the European Commission has already the necessary internal decision-making have been completed. This coming weekend would give the Commission the controversial treaty want to sign during a meeting of the world trade organisation in Geneva, reported the website La Quadrature Du Net.
The next step is the treatment of the ACTA treaty, or the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, in the European Parliament. This can be the convention, which provides for more stringent measures against copyright infringement on the internet, and against the trade in counterfeit goods, accept or reject it. Then all member states must approve the treaty.
In the Dutch parliament was Wednesday the debate on the ACTA treaty, whose text, at the request of the Americans still a secret. The outcome of the debate was that the Minister of Economic Affairs Verhagen still the hands free has to this weekend the last negotiations on behalf of the Netherlands, writes the Volkskrant.
The PVV-fraction turned during the debate at the last moment against a motion of D66, where Verhagen was called up to stop the secret negotiations, partly because the content of the treaty not by the government is made public. Also the government parties VVD and CDA voted against the D66-motion. It is notable that Laurence Stassen, a member of the European Parliament on behalf of the PVV, speaking out against the ‘spin’ of the PVV-fraction.
The ACTA treaty is highly controversial because in the treaty supposedly established that individual users high fines can get. Also there is probably more space for a downloadverbod, for example, through the introduction of the three strikes model. Verhagen denied that such measures introduced in the Netherlands would be, because the ACTA treaty are not more restrictive than the Dutch legislation. Nevertheless, committed the government to a downloadverbod.