ANTI-COUNTERFEITING TRADE AGREEMENT : EDPS CONCERNED THAT ACTA TOO VAGUE.

The European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) warns that measures aimed at enforcing intellectual property rights ( IP rights') on the internet in the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) are imprecise and can infringe on the rights to privacy and data protection if they are not implemented properly. On 25 April, the EDPS published his opinion on the proposal for a Council decision on the conclusion of ACTA(1).

The opinion came at a particularly critical moment. The European Commission is on the verge of asking the EU Court of Justice for its opinion on the conformity of the agreement with fundamental rights - it took a formal decision on the matter on 4 April. The European Parliament should approve or reject it at the latest by July.

The Greens-EFA, GUE-NGL and S&D groups intend to vote against the ACTA. The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) is also opposed (see separate article). The EPP groups and the ECR are still undecided. David Martin (S&D, UK), who is in charge of the dossier, presented his report at the Committee on International Trade (INTA), on 25 April.

"A right balance between the fight against IP infringements and the rights to privacy and data protection must be respected. It appears that ACTA has not been fully successful in this respect," said Giovanni Buttarelli, assistant EDPS.

ONLINE MONITORING

The EPDS' opinion focuses on the most controversial section of the ACTA on the enforcement of IP rights in the digital environment (Article 27, Chapter 2, Section 5).

According to the EDPS, several measures aimed at enforcing online IP rights which are laid out in the article could involve a form of "monitoring of users' behaviour and of their electronic communications". Such measures are particularly "intrusive" and must be implemented by the EU in line with the principles of necessity and proportionality, says the EDPS. He adds that "measures that allow the indiscriminate or widespread monitoring of internet users' behaviour, and/or electronic communications, in relation to trivial, small-scale, not for profit infringement would be disproportionate and in breach of Article 8 ECHR [European Convention on Human Rights], Articles 7 and 8 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights, and the Data Protection Directive...

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