ETNO calls for an open and transparent ACTA process. Concerns relate to disproportionate measures, freedom of expression, privacy and an Open Internet.

ETNO, the organisation which represents Europe's largest telecommunications companies*, has weighed in publicly to the debate surrounding the Anti-counterfeiting Trade Agreement, known as ACTA. The ACTA is known to contain measures for copyright enforcement on the Internet - measures which include network filtering and 3-strikes. The measures could also target ecommerce companies such as eBay.

ETNO is concerned that the ACTA** is being negotiated behind closed doors and is calling on Members of the European Parliament to raise

Read more: Europe's telcos call to open up ACTA

Leaked drafts of the ACTA anti-piracy agreement  confirm that the EU is negotiating on it - in spite of denials by EU officials - and that the talks concern civil enforcement against Internet copyright infringement. Ability to implement them could be dependent on the Telecoms Package limitations amendments  being carried in the European Parliament on 5 May. 

The documents have been made public on Wikileaks. The ACTA - Anti-counterfeiting Trade Agreement - will put in place a new international framework for intellectual property enforcement. It will address copyright, as well as trademarks, and patents. It aims  to put in place new anti-piracy measures for the Internet, as well as measures against alleged counterfeiting of physical products.

The EU has officially denied requests to see any ACTA documentation, claiming that publicising them would be damaging to its negotiating stance. The draft is being created by the US and Japanese governments, but is additionally  marked as "EU Proposals". This  confirms that the EU is actively involved in a negotiation.  

This negotiation is taking place  outside the usual legal structures, and could pre-empt national and EU law-making processes. Moreover, the ability to bring in the online ACTA measures legally, will be dependent on the Telecoms Package and

Read more: ACTA: leaked document confirms EU proposals

Questions are being asked in the European Parliament over scrutiny of ACTA. Leaked parts of the ACTA text indicate ISP liability is on the agenda.

Whether the European Parliament will be able to scrutinise ACTA - Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement -  is the topic of an oral question tabled for the March session of the European Parliament.  The question, from Swedish MEP Jens Holm , asks whether the final draft of  of any forthcoming agreement will be published by the Council before final agreement and whether the  European and national Parliaments will be able to scrutinise the text. A third question asks that the Council should not agree and rubber stamp the ACTA during the Parliament's recess for the elections.

The issue that Holm is trying to address is the secrecy that surrounds the ACTA negotiations. ACTA threatens to alter the law concerning enforcement of copyright and intellectual property by means of an multi-lateral  agreement that is outside the conventional international legal framework. The nature of the proposals, as far as is known, will have implications for

Read more: ACTA: questions in the European Parliament