Parliament and Council representatives must agree a compromise
by December that must be ratified by their organisations by
February otherwise the whole Telecoms Package will be scrapped,
according to a European Parliament spokeswoman.
The Council and Parliament are in disagreement over a clause in
a Commission-proposed reform package for telecoms regulation which
would stop internet users being cut off for alleged file-sharing
without a court's authority.
The dispute derailed the ratification of the Telecoms Package
before summer and negotiation is about to start over a compromise
deal. Unless that single clause is agreed the whole reform
programme will be discarded.
A Conciliation Committee will be formed and will comprise 27
MEPs and 27 Council representatives, one on each side from every EU
member state. Once it begins negotiation on a proposed text it has
just eight weeks to reach agreement.
A spokeswoman for the European Parliament said that it would
announce the exact date for negotiations to start tomorrow, but
that the date would be in early November.
"That means they will have to agree by the end of the year," she
said. "They can have as many meetings as they like, but it can only
take six to eight weeks."
Any text agreed by the Conciliation Committee will have to be
passed both by the Parliament and the full Council of Ministers.
This, too, must happen within eight weeks.
The EU governing bodies will once again have to accept or reject
the whole Telecoms Package, they cannot reject one clause and adopt
the rest, said the spokeswoman. "And if it is rejected early next
year then the Commission will have to start again from zero," she
said.
The disputed amendment would stop countries passing laws that
allow for the disconnection of internet users suspected of engaging
in illegal file sharing without court oversight.
"No restriction may be imposed on the fundamental rights and
freedoms of end users without a prior ruling by the judicial
authorities … save when public security is threatened," said
the amendment.
Both the European Consumers' Organisation (Beuc) and the
European Internet Service Providers' Association (Eurispa) have
called in recent days for the Parliament to hold firm in protecting
the rights of internet users not to be disconnected without
judicial oversight.
"Citizens should not be cut-off from [the] internet without a
fair trial," said Beuc director general Willemien Bax. "Consumers
must not be treated as pirates or criminals. We are in the 21st
century and such draconian measures have no place in an open
society. People have rights that cannot and must not be overlooked
for the sake of the music and film industry."
Eurispa also backed the original amendment. "We believe that
unrestricted access to the internet is an integral part of
Fundamental Freedoms, providing a secure business environment and
protecting citizens’ civil liberties," said a Eurispa statement.
"Any restriction of an individual to those rights should only be
taken following a prior judicial ruling. Only a court can guarantee
a proportionate, balanced decision, respectful of the Fundamental
Rights of Information, Privacy and Communication."
The Parliament spokeswoman confirmed that the disputed clause is
the only part of the Telecoms Package that is being
renegotiated.
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