ACTA does not entail obligatory implementation of “Three Strikes”

Last Friday, Maxime Verhagen, the Dutch minister of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation, responded to the Dutch Parliament regarding the request to disclose the negotiating documents of the "Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement", also known as ACTA.

ACTA is an international trade agreement between Australia, Canada, the European Union and its Member States, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore, Switzerland and the United States. The scope of ACTA includes combating counterfeit products such as clothing and medicine and illegal copying of movies, music, software and games. The goal of the treaty is to set up international standards to protect intellectual property.

The ACTA treaty is controversial, because the negotiations take place behind closed doors and therefore the process would not be transparent. Several Dutch political parties expressed their dissatisfaction about the treaty. Critics also say the treaty violates certain human rights, as the ACTA treaty would also entail the "Three Strikes" system, which would breach the right of freedom of expression. The Three Strikes Act, which is already codified in France, lays down a regulatory framework that makes it possible to disconnect internet users if they engage in illegal file sharing, after they have received three notifications of violating copyrights due to illegal downloading.

Verhagen announced ACTA does not force countries to introduce a "Three Strikes you’re out” system, because the ACTA falls within the scope of already existing rules mentioned in EU directives. In the Netherlands, this kind of system will not be introduced. Furthermore, disclosure of the negotiating documents is not possible, because of a confidentiality agreement and because all ACTA members have agreed only to disclose those documents when  decided unanimously.

It’s likely it will take a while until the treaty actually will be implemented, as the European Union and its 27 Member States, Mexico and Switzerland have not signed the treaty yet. As far as Europe is concerned, first the European Commission will have to decide whether it will propose to ratify the agreement, then the Council has to decide whether or not it signs the agreement and finally the Parliament must give its consent. The treaty must be approved by all national parliaments, as both Member States and the European Union are parties of the ACTA. With respect to the Netherlands, Maxime Verhagen hopes an act ratifying the treaty will be presented to the Senate and the House of Representatives in the first quarter of 2012.

Reference: Rijksoverheid.nl