Yesterday the Committee on Justice of the European Parliament adopted the Gallo report with a majority of votes (328-245). The report, named after French rapporteur Marielle Gallo, is an own initiative of the European Parliament (EP). Therefore it is not legally binding. Nevertheless, the Gallo report has a strong signal value. It shows how the majority of the EP thinks on the controversial file-sharing problem.

The Gallo report states that the EP finds that the European Commission underestimates or insufficiently recognizes the problems concerning file-sharing. It finds that stricter enforcement of intellectual property rights is indeed necessary to address online copyright infringing file- sharing and criticizes the Commission for not having a sufficiently strong framework in place for defending intellectual property rights.

The Gallo report suggests that alongside civil penalties, criminal sanctions for copyright infringement are needed. These measures should be addressed at a European level, the report said. In addition, the report calls for the creation of a European single market for copyright (an item on the Commission's Digital Agenda), so that legitimate online business models for selling and buying content will become available. The lack of online business models is seen as a major problem that contributes to illegal filesharing.

Although the report stresses that any new measures to combat online copyright infringement must respect citizen's fundamental rights (such as rights of privacy and the right to a fair trial), it was received with much criticism. La Quadrature du Net issued a statement that the entertainment industry is crusading against it's own public and that the proposed measures undermine people's fundamental rights and will turn out to be a technical failure.

Nu.nl took stock of Dutch political parties' reactions on the Gallo report.

- The Democrats party (D66) was disappointed. The report does not sufficiently distinguish between the online world and the world of counterfeiting. Furthermore, the party finds the proposed policy not enforceable.

- The Labour Party (PvdA) finds the criminalization of users a disproportionate measure. The entertainment industry should ensure enough legal online.

- The Liberal Party (VVD) doens't see the report as an attempt to criminalize users. The party was also involved in drafting the report. Terminating users internet connections is not in question, but the party finds it important that intellectual property rights are protected.

A spokesman for European Commissioner Michel Barnier's cabinet for the internal market, that deals with copyright issues, stated to ZDNet UK that the Commission will consider the Gallo report.

Source: ZDNet UK