There is a declaration on the lack of a transparent process for the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) and potentially objectionable content in the EU Parliament by Françoise Castex, Zuzana Roithová, Alexander Alvaro and Stavros Lambrinidis.

You can download the declaration here in English. Use the language buttons at the top of the page for your local language. It is only 1 page. Here is the content:

Written declaration on the lack of a transparent process for the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) and potentially objectionable content

The European Parliament,

– having regard to Rule 123 of its Rules of Procedure,

  • whereas negotiations concerning the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) are ongoing,
  • whereas Parliament’s co-decision role in commercial matters and its access to negotiation documents are guaranteed by the Lisbon Treaty,
  1. Takes the view that the proposed agreement should not indirectly impose harmonisation of EU copyright, patent or trademark law, and that the principle of subsidiarity should be respected;
  2. Declares that the Commission should immediately make all documents related to the ongoing negotiations publicly available;
  3. Takes the view that the proposed agreement should not force limitations upon judicial due process or weaken fundamental rights such as freedom of expression and the right to privacy;
  4. Stresses that economic and innovation risks must be evaluated prior to introducing criminal sanctions where civil measures are already in place;
  5. Takes the view that internet service providers should not bear liability for the data they transmit or host through their services to an extent that would necessitate prior surveillance or filtering of such data;
  6. Points out that any measure aimed at strengthening powers of cross-border inspection and seizure of goods should not harm global access to legal, affordable and safe medicines;
  7. Instructs its President to forward this declaration, together with the names of the signatories, to the Commission, the Council and the parliaments of the Member States.

What you can do?

Make a call to a Member of the European Parlament. Ask if they have heared about the decleration and offer to send it to them. It only takes you a few minutes and can be real fun. Here you find a list of all the Members.

Find out more about ACTA on the pages of the STOP ACTA initiative.

Update 17.6.2010

Btw. Christian Engström (Pirate MEP) recently published an article in his blog about another declaration (Written Declaration 29) in the EU Parlaiment, which is in fact a very bad one. “Under the guise of protecting children from sexual abuse, it actually calls for the Data Retention Directive to be extended to cover search engines as well.”

Update 21.6.2010

The first press photos for the STOP ACTA initiative showed up today at gedankenstuecke and herrurbachs blogs. The photos were shot by Gregor Fischer and are released under the Creative Commons BY license, so you can use them. They will be given to the press on wendsday.