Brussels, March 26th 2012 – Today is the beginning of a decisive week for the future of the ACTA procedure in the EU Parliament. Tomorrow, Members of the EU Parliament (MEPs) may decide whether to vote on ACTA in the next few months as originally planned, or to follow the rapporteur David Martin in buying time and defusing the ongoing debate through technocratic manoeuvres. Citizens must call their MEPs now and urge them to face their political responsibility by rejecting ACTA.



As representatives of La Quadrature du Net are currently inside the Parliament, EU citizens can participate in trying to convince MEPs to stick to the original timetable on ACTA, the anti-counterfeiting trade agreement.

Whereas the EU Commission has already announced that it will refer ACTA to the EU Court of Justice (ECJ) to assess its compatibility with EU Treaties and fundamental rights in order to buy time, the ACTA rapporteur in the EU Parliament, MEP David Martin (S&D, UK) is pushing the same strategy. He has proposed that the “International Trade” committee (INTA) should draft an “interim report” before recommending consent or rejection of ACTA, and that the EU Parliament make its own referral of ACTA to the ECJ (which has already been strongly opposed by his own political group).

As La Quadrature explains in a memo (pdf) sent to MEPs, both initiatives must be dismissed. Both the interim report and an ECJ referral are useless, and will only serve to delay the final vote, considering ACTA proponents think the agreement would be rejected, were the Parliament to vote on it in the coming months.

“The EU Parliament must face its political responsibility on ACTA. Now is not the time for technocratic manoeuvres aimed at stalling the ongoing democratic debate on ACTA’s dangers. The Parliament must exert its prerogatives by moving toward a final vote and protecting the public interest by rejecting ACTA. Dozens of NGOs, legal scholars, independent experts and public bodies have already established that ACTA is illegitimate and will harm fundamental rights as well as the economy, in the EU and worldwide, and no procedural delay will change a thing about this fact. After the impressive protests which took place all across Europe, citizens must again step in the debate and urge for a swift rejection of ACTA.”, said Jérémie Zimmermann, spokesperson of the citizen advocacy group La Quadrature du Net.

To call your MEPs free of charge, you can use La Quadrature campaigning tool, the PiPhone, which will also direct you to useful information.

Today at 17:00, key MEPs from the INTA committee will meet to discuss ACTA. The Civil Liberties (LIBE) committee will also hold its first exchange of view on ACTA.

Tomorrow morning, the whole INTA committee will meet and may decide the future of the ACTA procedure.

Letter to Members of the EU Parliament