infoJustice

Yesterday the EU Parliament adopted a resolution on a Digital Freedom Strategy in EU Foreign Policy, which focuses on human rights and access to the internet.  The resolution and accompanying report was crafted by MEP Marietje Schaake, who guided the process through a civil society consultation process.

Paragraph 59 asks the Commission to revisit its policies on IP enforcement in trade agreements.  Specifically, it “Calls on the Commission to propose a new regulatory framework for crossborder online trade, an evaluation and revision of the Information Society Directive 2001/29/EC to ensure predictability and flexibility in the EU copyright regime, and a revision of the Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement Directive (IPRED), which would balance the need for relevant copyright reform and protection with the need to protect fundamental rights online and preserve the open internet, and would serve as a basis for IPR provisions and commitments in future FTAs;”

MEP Marietje Schaake, who sponsored the resolution, said in a statement: “I’m very happy with the wide support my report received. The Parliament now unequivocally acknowledges that digital freedoms, like uncensored access to the internet, are fundamental rights which deserve equal protection as traditional human rights. My strategy sets out a number of concrete points of action to be incorporated in the EU’s trade and development policies.”

For more, see statements by La Quadrature du Net and Reporters Without Borders.