European Parliament to rule on anti-counterfeiting trade deal

The European Parliament has decided not to send the controversial Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) for legal scrutiny in the European Court of Justice.

Instead, David Martin, the UK MEP who became the rapporteur for ACTA following the resignation of Kader Arif in January, tweeted that the European Parliament will rule on the agreement itself.

Arif resigned when all but five member states of the European Union signed the Agreement saying at the time that he had witnessed "never-before-seen manoeuvres" by officials.

This decision will please online advocacy group La Quadrature du Net which has been actively campaigning against the secretive agreement.

Jérémie Zimmermann for the group had said: "If the EU Parliament gives in to these technocratic tricks, it will give up on protecting EU citizens. Enough is known about ACTA to justify working towards its rejection without having to wait for the opinion of the ECJ.

"Delaying the debate rather than have the courage to engage with the political issues raised by ACTA would completely undermine the democratic standing of the Parliament."

The decision not to refer ACTA to the ECJ was passed by 21 votes to five. Martin will now prepare his recommendation on how the European Parliament should vote which should be ready by the end of April with a vote on the agreement taking place in June.