CETA, the Zombie ACTA, Must Face the Same Fate

Paris, July 10th 2012 – A leaked version of the Canada-EU trade agreement (CETA) contains the worst parts of ACTA. The EU Commission appears to be once again trying to bypass the democratic process in order to impose ruthless repression online. Commissioner De Gucht cannot ignore the decision of the EU Parliament on ACTA. CETA must be cancelled altogether (or its repressive ACTA parts must be scrapped), or face the same fate as ACTA in the Parliament.

According to leaks of the CETA negotiations (Canada-EU Trade Agreement) from February 2012, the EU Commission is pushing for the very same clauses that have been refused last week through the European Parliament vote on ACTA. CETA literally contains the worst of ACTA, in particular: general obligations on enforcement, damages, injunctions, DRM circumvention, and border measure rules¹A comparison between CETA and ACTA is provided here: http://www.laquadrature.net/wiki/Comparison_ACTA_CETA. The worst and most damaging parts for our freedoms online, criminal sanctions and intermediary liability, are word for word the same in ACTA and CETA.

In all coherence with last week’s vote, the European Commission must drop CETA negotiations (or expurgate it from all the aforementioned, copyright-related provisions), or else be humiliated once again when the European parliament get to vote on CETA.

“Commissioner De Gucht, responsible for the ACTA debacle and CETA, cannot keep ignoring the will of European citizens, relayed last week through the rejection by the Parliament of ACTA. What has been refused once cannot be made acceptable just because it has been wrapped in a different paper. This trick to bring back ACTA through the backdoor proves, in line with De Gucht’s declaration after the vote on July 4th, that he has no consideration whatsoever for citizens and the Parliament and is just the copyright lobbies’ lapdog. CETA must be opposed and defeated, just like ACTA”, declares Jérémie Zimmermann, co-founder of La Quadrature du Net.

The European Parliament must assume its responsibilities and remind the Commission that its vote against ACTA’s controversial provisions and process applies to every other trade agreement being negotiated on behalf of the EU.