Campaigners in favour of the global anticounterfeiting treaty ACTA have protested in Brussels today in their dozens, in a bid to sway the views of EU decision-makers.
They gathered before the European Parliament, which is threatening to sink the agreement, and chanted at the mainly empty building:
“What do we want?”
“A largely symbolic fairly toothless global accord on IPR enforcement that creates no direct impact on private citizens, particularly in a jurisdiction such as Europe which already has such rules in force.”
“When do we want it?”
“Once it has been ratified by the EU member states and endorsed by the European Parliament and following a legal opinion from the European Court of Justice.”
The demonstrators bore placards with slogans such as “INTERNATIONAL TREATIES SUCH AS THIS ONE HAVE NO LEGAL EFFECT BUT ARE SIMPLY A CONTRACTUAL ACCORD BETWEEN THE SIGNATORIES.”
Another read “THE IMPORTANT CAVEAT AS FAR AS EUROPE IS CONCERNED IS ARTICLE 26 PARAGRAPH 2 AND ITS FOOTNOTE – TO BE READ IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE APPLICABLE ECJ CASE LAW C-70/10 SCARLET V SABAM.”
BM
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