Carl Schlyter (SE,Greens): Injunction powers going beyond those provided for in the EU acquis

Parliamentary questions
20 October 2010 H-0541/2010

Question for Question Time
to the Commission
Part-session: November 2010
Rule 116
Carl Schlyter (Verts/ALE)

Subject: ACTA – injunction powers going beyond those provided for in the EU acquis

In the Civil Enforcement section of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), paragraph 1 of Article 2.X: Injunctions allows judicial authorities to issue an order (injunction) against a party, or a third party, to ‘prevent infringing goods from entering into the channels of commerce’. This injunction power is considerably different from that existing under the EU acquis (Article 9 of the Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement Directive (Directive 2004/48/EC)), which permits injunctions ‘to prevent any imminent infringement’. Furthermore, the third parties need to be involved in the infringement (‘against an intermediary whose services are being used’). The ACTA text essentially eliminates the thresholds for injunction powers that exist under the EU acquis.

Given that, by laying down the thresholds for injunctions, the EU acquis has struck a delicate balance between enforcement and fundamental rights safeguards, how will the Commission ensure that these safeguards under the current EU acquis are maintained?

How will the Commission safeguard the thresholds currently provided for in the EU acquis?

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