When proposals for the directive were being considered at committee stage the Greens raised a number of concerns including the legal base of the directive and the limiting scope to clear cases of copyright piracy and trademark counterfeiting.
Speaking after the vote Jean Lambert said: “The report on criminal measures for enforcing intellectual property rights leaves too many questions and causes more problems than we started with. Many of the areas to be covered by the directive – such as copyright are already dealt with effectively by national civil laws. There is simply no justification for introducing EU – wide criminal penalties for such minor infringements.
“A number of the Green’s amendments have been made to the directive. Excluding private individuals is one positive outcome. Without this, something as simple as downloading music could be classed as criminal activity. It is vital that EU legislation is targeted at real criminals not the innocent end users.”
ENDS
For more information please contact:Morwenna Holland, Media OfficerTel: 020 7407 6280 or 07813149812 Email: media@jeanlambertmep.org.uk www.jeanlambertmep.org.uk
Notes to editors: Jean Lambert: In October 2005 Jean was named MEP 2005 for Justice and Human Rights. Jean was first elected Green Party Member of the European Parliament for London in the 1999 European elections. She was re-elected in 2004. She is one of nine MEPs representing London and one of two UK Green representatives in the European Parliament.