[Chapter-delegates] Dutch parliament freezes signing ACTA

[Michiel Leenaars]

Hi all,

good news from our side of the planet. As you may have seen Dutch
parliament has voted against ratifying ACTA for now yesterday.

I don't know what the status is of the Internet Society statement
on ACTA that was circulated last week, but the Netherlands decision
(along with similar decisions in other contries as mentioned earlier
on this list) definitely make the case for going back to the drawing
board on this issue obvious.

Best,
Michiel Leenaars
Internet Society Netherlands

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http://www.rnw.nl/english/bulletin/dutch-parliament-opposes-ratifying-acta

Dutch parliament opposes ratifying ACTA

The Dutch Lower House has backed a motion from the Green Left party which
says that the Netherlands should, for the time being, refrain from signing
an international treaty designed to combat piracy and counterfeit trade on
the Internet.

The motion says that there first needs to be clarity over whether the
treaty threatens the rights and the privacy of Internet users.

The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) is a treaty between the 27
EU Member States and ten other countries including the US, Canada and
Japan. Last weekend, tens of thousands of Europeans in cities across
Europe demonstrated against ACTA. They fear it will limit the freedom of
internet use.

Some EU Member States have already ratified the treaty but others,
including the Netherlands and Germany, have not yet done so. The Bulgarian
government says it prefers to wait until the EU has agreed a common
position for all 27 members.