European Parliament votes to keep anti-piracy law decision out of top judges' hands

Latest twist in the tale of ACTA

The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) has hit another pothole in its difficult road to becoming law. It will be decided by the European Parliament in June whether it ever does so.

The European Parliament's International Trade Committee (ITC) yesterday overturned the recommendation by the European Commission last month to refer the controversial legislation to the European Court of Justice (ECJ).

"The decision on ACTA is a political one and parliament should keep control over its agenda," argued some members.

The naysayers won the vote by 21 against referral to five in favour. There were two abstentions.

Despite the backing of justice commissioner Vivienne Reding, the parliament has showed little enthusiasm for the measures, so rapporteur David Martin (S&D, UK) called for the committee to vote on the referral.

ACTA has attracted fierce criticism from freedom of speech lobbyists and groups opposed to perpetuating what they see as draconian intellectual property (IP) laws.

The agreement doesn't introduce any new laws, but aims to strong-arm European-style IP protection on countries outside the EU. The US, Japan and Australia have signalled support.

However, member states have dragged their heels on ratification after the European Council adopted ACTA unanimously in December 2011.

The UK, France, Spain and Italy are among those that have ratified ACTA, but Germany and Poland have backed out and other member states are hesitating.

Referral to the ECJ was supposed to end the dithering by putting the agreement on sound legal footing, assuming the judges gave ACTA their blessing.

But instead of being put before the ECJ, ACTA will next be debated at an ITC meeting on 25-26 April where Martin will present his recommendation about the European Parliament's acceptance of ACTA.

The final ITC vote is scheduled for 29-30 May, and parliament as a whole is to vote on the issue at its June plenary session.