Mexico: Congress Resolves to Reject ACTA

On July 18, 2012, both the Senate and House of Representatives in Mexico passed resolutions calling for the country's new President, Enrique Peña Nieto, to nullify Mexico's signature on the ACTA treaty.  Mexico's Ambassador to Japan, Claude Heller, signed the treaty a week prior, despite strong rejections of its terms by Mexico's Senate and the country's telecommunications commission.

ACTA demonstration image by ottodv. CC-BY-SA.

 

 

ACTA aims to combat counterfeiting and piracy of intellectual property (copyrighted works, trademarked goods, patented medicines, etc.) by imposing certain restrictions on the use of digital communications technologies which could interfere with users’ rights to freedom of expression, access to information, and privacy.

The Senate resolution objected to various terms of the treaty, the process by which it was developed, and the undemocratic nature in which it was signed by Ambassador Heller.

[Algunas] disposiciones del proyecto de Acuerdo resultarían contrarias a garantías individuales contenidas en la Constitución, y se vulneraría el principio de presunción de inocencia; que la ambigüedad de algunas de sus disposiciones resultaría contraria a la seguridad y certeza jurídica; que podría resultar en una limitación a la universalización deseable del acceso a internet y derivar en una censura a los contenidos del mismo.

[C]ertain provisions of the Treaty would contradict individual rights and protections in the Constitution, and would threaten the principle of presumed innocence; the ambiguity of some provisions could threaten security and judicial procedure; it could also generate limitations to the desired universalization of Internet access and could lead to censorship of online content.

The Senate resolution noted objections to ACTA voiced by the Federal Institute of Access to Information and Data Protection (IFAI), the Federal Telecommunications Commission (COFETEL), the Mexican Association for the Internet, and the press freedom organization ARTICLE 19 [es].

Further updates on efforts the ACTA debate Mexico will be posted as events unfold. Click here to read last week's coverage of netizen responses to the event.

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