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Vote: Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement between the EU and its Member States, Australia, Canada, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore, Switzerland and the USA, final vote, July 2012.

The European Parliament refused to give its consent to the ratification of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), a multilateral trade agreement aimed at establishing international standards for intellectual property rights (IPRs) in order to tackle copyright infringement and stop the spread of counterfeited goods and generic medicines.

Although MEPS had previously supported the principle of such a treaty, they decided to reject ACTA following a highly successful campaign which mobilised millions of citizens across Europe, both online and in the streets. The no-campaigners argued that ACTA would lead to censorship and to a loss of online privacy.

IPRs cover goods such as patents, designs, copyrights, manufactured goods, films and music. These rights are designed to protect creators, businesses and inventors against the illegal exploitation of their creations. They are also intended to stimulate innovation.

But opponents of ACTA said it would undermine the privacy of internet users, the openness of the internet and the production of generic medicine which are used in the developing countries as cheaper alternatives to branded medication.