The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) was rejected by the European Parliament on Wednesday 4 July 2012. This is the first time the Parliament has exercised its Lisbon Treaty power to reject an international trade agreement.

ACTA aims to strengthen the enforcement of intellectual property rights, including online, and to help combat counterfeiting and piracy of goods including luxury brand clothing, music and films. It includes provisions on civil, criminal, border and digital-environment enforcement measures, cooperation mechanisms among ACTA parties to assist in their enforcement efforts, and the establishment of best practices for effective enforcement of intellectual property rights (please click here, here and here to view our previous articles on ACTA).

Opposition to ACTA mainly stemmed from concerns relating to the nature of the consultation process and specific aspects of the draft legislation concerning Internet service providers, with critics stating that the treaty was “too vague and open to misinterpretation” and could therefore jeopardise citizens’ liberties. The European Parliament encountered unprecedented direct lobbying, and received a petition signed by 2.8 million citizens worldwide, urging it to reject the agreement.

The legislation is currently pending before the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) following a referral by the Commission in April this year. Even if the CJEU rules that ACTA is in line with EU fundamental rights, it is now extremely unlikely that all 27 EU member states will proceed with it. As such, it looks like the end of the road for ACTA in the EU, at least.

Although ACTA was rejected by the European Parliament, it was stressed that there is still a need to find alternative ways to protect intellectual property in the EU, as the “raw material of the EU economy”.

Contributed by Brian McElligott.

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