ANTI-COUNTERFEITING TRADE AGREEMENT : AUSTRIA TO SUSPEND RATIFICATION OF ACTA.

Austria announced, on 22 February, that it plans to suspend ratification of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA). Its announcement came just days after the European Commission made it known that it would apply to the EU Court of Justice for an opinion on the agreement's conformity with European Union law.

With this statement, Vienna adds its name to the growing list of member states - all from Eastern Europe - which have backed down after signing the text. The list already includes Poland, the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Bulgaria and Slovenia. Among the five states that have not yet signed the text, Germany adopted a similar stance, on 10 February.

These statements are still informal, however, since there have been no official notifications to the EU Council, a European source told Europolitics information society. He added that this matter has been placed on the agenda of the next Trade Council, scheduled for 16 March.

In the European Parliament, which still has to approve the agreement, the S&D and EPP groups have welcomed the Commission's plan to seek the opinion of the Court of Justice to check the text's conformity with fundamental rights. The two groups are expected to await the court's judgement before giving their official position on ACTA. In other words, Parliament is not likely to vote on the text right away.

Before turning to the court, the Commission first has to conduct an interdepartmental...