The European Parliament has followed the Commission in referring the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) to the European Court, for a view on its compatibility with EU law.

The decision to refer this question to the European Court is a manoeuvre designed to limit the impact of ACTA whatever the answer: if the Court decides ACTA does require European law to change, the Parliament is more likely to veto the treaty; if it rules that no changes are necessary, that will weaken the hand of those that seek later to invoke ACTA as justification for creating new enforcement powers.

The Commission referred ACTA to the Court last week, but the Commission is only asking about the compatibility of ACTA with the EU Treaties – and on this it is likely to get a positive response that it hopes would bolster the Commission’s attempts to get the Parliament to ratify the new treaty. The Parliamentary referral also asks the court to review ACTA’s compatibility with the EU acquis (the body of existing EU law) and the Charter of Fundamental Rights.

The new Rapporteur, David Martin MEP, said that there is a good chance that the ECJ will treat this matter with a reasonably high priority, although it can still be expected to take at least a year to get a reply.

In addition, this morning, the Parliament received an Internet petition bearing more than 2 million citizens’ names arguing against ACTA.