European Parliament
Louis Grech  (S&D ),
in writing.
I voted against consenting to the conclusion of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA). I am committed to offering innovators and rights-holders appropriate protection – indeed, a resolution I voted for in November 2010 highlighted this very point – however, we must also have appropriate safeguards to guarantee citizens’ privacy and fundamental rights. In addition, the negotiations on ACTA were carried out without any real transparency, and repeated calls to involve MEPs and civil society organisations more closely were largely ignored. Furthermore, we should not require internet service providers to be the ‘sheriffs’ of the internet. This would be akin to asking Post Offices to monitor or filter letters on behalf of rights-holders.
Given the huge groundswell of opposition from citizens and civil society, I carefully considered how the ACTA agreement would impact on Malta’s citizens, consumers and SMEs before I voted. Unfortunately, as it stands, the agreement simply leaves too many gray areas open to interpretation. Given the ambiguity in the text, this is far from ‘smart’ regulation. It is not clear how the agreement would affect citizens in areas such as privacy and freedom of expression.

