ACTA has taken a blow already today with the resignation of the French MEP (Member of European Parliament) who was in charge of investigating the bill.
On his Web site, Kader Arif posted a statement titled, “ACTA: A masquerade I will not attend.” The original statement was in French and there is no official English translation yet so please forgive any errors presented in Google Translate.
I want to denounce as the greatest of all the process that led to the signing of this agreement: no association of civil society, lack of transparency from the beginning of negotiations, successive postponements of the signing of the text without any explanation being given, setting aside the claims of the European Parliament, however, expressed in several resolutions of our Assembly.
He then goes on to say that the right-winged members of parliament imposed an accelerated schedule to ACTA to pass the agreement as fast as possible before the public was alerted.
He then lists the many problems with ACTA: the impact on civil liberties, responsibilities it imposes on ISPs, impact on the manufacture of generic drugs and the lack of protection it offers to GIs.
He then says that he will be resigning his post in what he calls a “charade.”
This agreement may have a major impact on the lives of our citizens, and yet everything is done for the European Parliament to have no say. So today, in submitting this report in my charge, I would send a strong signal and alert the public about this unacceptable situation. I will not participate in this charade.
ACTA is now in the public sphere of debate and it’s causing an uproar. Expect more stories like this and more protests from various groups. We’ll keep you up to date on any changes.