European Commission: ACTA does not target Internet piracy

Next Wednesday, April 21st, the draft text of ACTA will, in all likeliness, be presented to the public. The text will not contain clauses on an obligatory termination of the Internet connection of file sharers. Furthermore, there is no question of checking the contents of data carriers at a border control. This information was released by the European Commission last Friday.

"No participant (in the negotiations, ed.) is proposing to require governments to mandate a 'graduated response' or 'three strikes' approach to copyright infringement on the internet," states the press release. “ACTA will not interfere with a signatory’s ability to respect its citizens’ fundamental rights and liberties.”

The European Parliament voiced severe criticism on the potential content and the lack of transparency in the negotiations and feared that the result of the talks might lead to infringement of civil liberties without consulting the proper democratic institutions. The statement seems to be meant primarily to assuage these fears.

The release follows the conclusion of the eighth round of negotiations between the EU, member states, Switzerland, The US, Canada, Mexico, Australia, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Morocco and New Zealand that took place last week in Wellington.

19 April 2010