The controversial Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), which would require European Union (EU) member states to put in place effective enforcement procedures to deal with counterfeiters, has suffered a blow after the International Trade Committee (ITC) voted in favour of recommending to the European Parliament that ACTA should not be ratified. ACTA is particularly controversial for its position on digital copyright infringement; it states that digital counterfeiting on a commercial scale would be considered a criminal offence with offenders facing fines or imprisonment, but has been accused of not stating exactly what conduct could lead to criminal sanctions and not specifically excluding private users and not-for-profit organisations from its scope. ACTA has also been criticised amid accusations that it does not comply with EU law.
The EU’s trade commissioner, Karel De Gucht, made a speech in the European Parliament before the ITC’s vote in which he said that, even if the ITC voted against ACTA (which it then did), it would not stop the European Commission from pushing for ACTA to be scrutinised by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) to better explain its practical meaning. He said he would push for the ECJ’s input even if ACTA does actually comply with EU law.