Dutch Green Left party has concerns about the ACTA Treaty

Dutch political party Green Left (Groen Links) is completely fed up with the ACTA Treaty’s haziness, reports Webwereld. One of Webwereld’s readers tipped off Mariko Peters (GL) about ACTA's continuing secret negotiations as well as contradictions in communications about possible changes in Dutch law as a result of the Treaty. Maria van der Hoeven, Dutch Minister of Economic Affairs replied.

Secret negotiations

Peters is concerned about the ACTA Treaty’s negotiations taking place behind closed doors. As a result it is unclear how the Treaty is developing. Given the sensitivity of the subject and the interests at play, Peters demands more transparency.

Through a spokesperson, Van der Hoeven stated to share the concerns about the secrecy surrounding the ACTA treaty and stressed that The Netherlands has repeatedly called for openness and strongly stresses this point in negotiations.

Consequences

Peters also wonders what actual consequences the ACTA Treaty will have on civil and criminal law in The Netherlands. In earlier report, Minister Van der Hoeven indicated that no amendments to existing legislation would occur due to the ACTA Treaty, but apparently the afore mentioned Webwereld reader received a notice with a different message. As a result of an information request based on the Dutch Government Information Act (Wet openbaarheid bestuur) he would have received the message that the Treaty’s impact on existing legislation could only be studied after its adoption.

Van der Hoeven announced through her spokesman to have found no inconsistencies. "Since November 2009, several rounds of negotiations have occurred. The content of ACTA is thus becoming increasingly clear. As a result, we say in our letters of July that, as it stands now, the Dutch civil and criminal legislation doesn't need to be altered", Webwereld was told. The spokesman also stated to have no doubt that the Dutch Parliament is properly informed.

U.S. conditions

Peters remains concerned about the impact of ACTA. She wants more guarantees that Dutch legislation will not be amended. She fears further liability for ISPs, fan sites taken down and a download ban (downloading is allowed under the private copying exception under Dutch law). Peters furthermore fears for American conditions around ‘notice and takedown’ requests.

More clarity about the developments and consequences of the ACTA Treaty would indeed be desirable, but as regards the latter Peters is a bit behind on her facts: under the European e-Commerce Directive and its implementation in the Netherlands, there already is a Notice and Takedown regime in the Netherlands. There even is a voluntary Code of Conduct for Notice and Takedown for government and industry since 2008. And this regime is working quite fine, with some exceptions of course.

"Anyone who believes that his copyright is abused could be taking down sites and retrieve personal data without the courts approval. That does not suit a constitutional state", Peters told Webwereld. However it is already possible to demand that a certain website is made inaccessible and to obtain personal data about an anonymous infringing internet user without court intervention in the Netherlands, yet only in cases where (in short) infringement is unmistakable and the importance of privacy of the internet user should not prevail. In the Netherlands this is for the provider and not the court to determine.

Although this regime falls within the scope of the Dutch law, there is much debate about whether this forms a desirable situation. In that respect Peters should even wish for U.S. conditions, since they an anti-SLAPP motion is possible, which gives a court the possibility to determine whether an internet provider should provide the personal data of an anonymous internet user to a third party or if his right to privacy or freedom of speech should prevail.