The referral to the Court of Justice is clearly intended by ACTA proponents as a way to buy time in face of the strong opposition to ACTA. The EU Parliament must therefore proceed immediately and formulate its own reasons for rejecting ACTA.

ACTA aims at circumventing democracy to impose now and later repressive legislation through secret negotiations. The European Parliament now has a unique occasion to firmly oppose it.

Today 377 members of the European Parliament adopted a written declaration on the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) in which they demand greater transparency, assert that ISPs should not up end being liable for data sent through their networks, and say that ACTA "should not force limitations upon judicial due process

"This vote is a terrible blow to EU citizens. It shows that the conservatives and some of their allies can get the Parliament to vote in favor of ACTA."

By a remarkable vote of 633 to 13, the Parliament rebuked European negotiators who have been drafting the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) in a series of confidential meetings around the globe. No version of the document has been disclosed by the participants, which include the United States, the European Commission, Japan, and Canada.

The ratification process in the Parliament is already characterized by the absence of transparency. The EU Parliament has refused to publish its legal services' full opinion on ACTA, saying that it would “seriously interfere with the complex ratification process”.

As a result of the copyright lobbies' noxious influence, ACTA still includes a set of measures for stepping up the war on the sharing of culture over the Internet.

"...Cancel ACTA entirely. Although parts of it are not objectionable, they are secondary to ACTA's threat to our freedom. Unless we are sure that the repressive aspects of ACTA are blocked, the main significance of ACTA is as a threat to society. Killing ACTA would be a fine way to get rid of this threat..."

"ACTA, the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, is a proposed enforcement treaty between United States, the European Community, Switzerland, Japan, Australia, the Republic of Korea, New Zealand and Mexico, with Canada set to join any day now..."

* http://www.fsf.org/campaigns/acta [...]

Take action! ..."