EU tries to covertly pass ACTA legislation

July 11th, 2012, 19:57 Posted By: wraggster

The European Union has been accused to trying to slip key components of the ACTA agreement through covert channels.
According to the Independent, a number of controversial provisions contained within the Anti-Counterfeit Trade Agreement were also buried in a trade agreement between the EU and Canada called CETA.
Apparently, if the CETA treaty were ratified then lawmakers would not be able to fully object to ACTA.
“The European Parliament has spoken very loudly. To put back the same provisions in a much larger trade agreement will make it more difficult to reject. If CETA is successful, then one would think that the European Commission would come back and say ‘well, you just passed that, so you cannot object to ACTA’,” said Professor Michael Geist, the law scholar who discovered the hidden provisions.
Negotiated in secret and only made public after being leaked, ACTA was roundly rejected by the European Parliament after becoming the subject of widespread protests in Europe.
“The crowbarring of ACTA type provisions into CETA shows the will to ignore the democratic process,” said the head of the UK Pirate Party, Loz Kaye. “There are legitimate concerns about the enforcement, damages and border control obligations in CETA. The EU and international bodies must start to learn the lessons of the ACTA debacle, and truly engage with citizens.”
http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/read/...slation/028667

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