While supporting efforts to protect intellectual property rights through an international anti-counterfeiting agreement, MEPs insist that the European Parliament must be kept abreast of the negotiations and that data protection and privacy rights of citizens must be safeguarded.

In opinion of the European Parliament, the Commission and the Council should grant public and parliamentary access to the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement - ACTA negotiation texts and MEPs should be fully informed in good time about their initiatives.

Parliament called on the Commission to continue the negotiations on ACTA and limit them to the existing European intellectual property rights enforcement system against counterfeiting". This is a resolution by an unanimous parliament, but it is not formally binding for the Commission.

ACTA would be a new multilateral agreement to strengthen the enforcement of intellectual property rights and combat counterfeiting and piracy of goods such as clothing of luxury brands, music, and films. The negotiating parties - the EU and other OECD countries - have jointly agreed on a confidentiality clause to keep negotiations secret.

In its resolution, Parliament voices concern over the lack of transparency in the negotiations, and the fact that no parliamentary approval was sought for the negotiating mandate. MEPs recall that, since the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty on 1 December 2009, "the Commission has had a legal obligation to inform Parliament immediately and fully at all stages of international negotiations".

ACTA provisions "should not affect global access to legitimate, affordable and safe medicinal products, including innovative and generic products", says the resolution.

In February, Peter Hustinx, European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS), regreted in a communication that he was not consulted by the European Commission on the content of Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement - ACTA, which raises significant issues as regards individuals' fundamental rights, and in particular their right to privacy and data protection.

About the content of ACTA, EDPS warned about a potential incompatibility between envisaged measures and data protection requirements. This would apply in particular to the legal framework that would be put in place to fight piracy on the Internet and which could include large scale monitoring of Internet users and the imposition of obligations on Internet Services Providers to adopt "three strikes Internet disconnection policies" - also referred to as "graduated response" schemes.