[Ip-health] On Dec. 1, the European Parliament will receive all secret ACTA documents - or not?

[Ante]

On Dec. 1 the EU Lisbon Treaty will enter into force. That day, the Members of
the European Parliament (EP) will be able to read all secret ACTA documents.
Article 218.10 of the Lisbon Treaty reads: "The European Parliament shall be
immediately and fully informed at all stages of the procedure."

The European Parliament asked for ACTA documents twice. (Resolution of on the
impact of counterfeiting on international trade, 18 December 2008, Regulation
regarding public access to documents, 11 March 2009)

Now the Parliament does not have to ask any more. Or, will the Lisbon Treaty
be violated from day one?

== Consent of the EP

Lisbon Article 218.6: "Except where agreements relate exclusively to the
common foreign and security policy, the Council shall adopt the decision
concluding the agreement: (a) after obtaining the consent of the European
Parliament in the following cases: (...) (v) agreements covering fields to
which either the ordinary legislative procedure applies, or the special
legislative procedure where consent by the European Parliament is required.
(...)"

"IP" is normal legislation, ACTA can only be adopted after obtaining consent
of the EP.

The EP adopted some texts which are relevant regarding ACTA, like:
 - European Parliament resolution 18 December 2008
 - Regulation (EC) No .../2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council
regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission
documents (recast) 11 March 2009
 - Telecoms package

Lisbon 207: "The Council and the Commission shall be responsible for ensuring
that the agreements negotiated are compatible with internal Union policies and
rules."

If ACTA does not respect adopted texts and or EU legislation, the EP may find
that a reason to reject ACTA. The same may happen if the EP is irritated
because it did not receive all ACTA texts.

http://action.ffii.org/acta/lisbon

vriendelijke groet,
cordialmente,

Ante