Henvendelse af 16/12-04 fra Vrijschrift.org Foundation om det hollandske formandskabs håndtering af direktivet om software-patenter

To: Voorzitter vaste Kamercommissie Europese Zaken,

COSAC Presidency,

Mrs Sharon Dijksma

From: Vrijschrift/FFII

Subject: The EU Presidency denies the new members the rights the Protocol on the Role of

National Parliaments in the European Union grants them, the CII Directive Common Position

will be illegal.

Amsterdam, December 16 2004,

Dear Mrs Dijksma,

Presidency is conducting itself with respect to European procedures and the Protocol on the

Role of National Parliaments in the European Union [1].

In our letter we pointed out:

Parliaments early access to legislative proposals. The Parliaments of the 10 new members of

the Union did not have early access, since the translations of the EU Council's political

agreement have only very recently become available.

Computer-Implemented Inventions”, and to render their opinions. Any Council member

may unilaterally act to transfer an A-item decision indicating a mere formality to the list of

B-item agenda points [2]. Every member of the Council has the right to change their

present vote [3]. All of the national members of the European Union have the freedom and

the right to engage in any decision that determines their future.

("exceptions" that are always true) and undefined exclusions.

pass as a mere formality under the A-item agenda points.

Since then, it became clear that the Dutch EU Presidency puts pressure on Poland to vote yes

to the Directive [4]. Poland is denied the rights the Protocol grants.

The Protocol on the role of national parliaments in the European Union demands that the

Commission's legislative proposals are translated. The European Union has 10 new members.

After reaching the political agreement this agreement was translated, it was the first

translation the new members received. This implies that the new members' parliaments are

completely free to express their view, and their governments are completely free to act

accordingly. The pressure the presidency puts on these governments denies the new members

Vrijschrift.org Foundation is an independent, community driven, organization. The main objective of the

Vrijschrift.org Foundation is promoting and protecting digital publishable products with a non proprietary character.

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the rights the protocol grants.

The Protocol on the role of national parliaments in the European Union demands that the

Commission's legislative proposals are translated. In the case of the “Directive on Computer

Implemented Inventions" no translations have been made in the new member states' languages.

The obligation to inform the parliaments is not met. It may seem overly formalistic, on the

dogmatic side, since there are translations available of the May 18th political agreement. It is

not. The Commission's proposal has an explanatory part the later document is missing, 12

pages of background information needed to understand the directive. The new members

received less information. Without the translations, and a 6 weeks review period, a common

position will violate the Protocol.

According to the Council's rules of procedure, the Council may unanimously derogate from

the six-week period where the entry of an item is subject to the exception on grounds of

urgency provided for in point 3 of that Protocol. In our opinion there are no grounds of

urgency, and they are not mentioned in the political agreement's text either. We do not see

an unanimous decision to derogate from the six-week period.

The common position will be illegal.

We hope COSAC will protest against this violation of the letter and spirit of the Protocol.

On behalf of Vrijschrift/FFII,

Sincerely,

Ante Wessels

Arend Lammertink, Ir

Harmen van der Wal, Mr.

[2] See for this the Council Political Agreement Reversal HowTo:

http://www.vrijschrift.nl/Members/awessels/vrijschrift.nl_change-the-vote-howto.pdf

[3] Lopez report

http://fajardolopez.com/informes/Fajardolopez.com_18th-May-EU-Council-voting.pdf

This opinion was confirmed by the Council itself: "PUBLIC INFORMATION"

www.vrijschrift.nl

www.ffii.org

Vrijschrift.org Foundation is an independent, community driven, organization. The main objective of the

Vrijschrift.org Foundation is promoting and protecting digital publishable products with a non proprietary character.

Vrijschrift.org tries to create more awareness of the old culture of developing, sharing and the resulting beneficial

effects for our society. Protecting the public domain is of great economical and social importance and forms a major

concern. On an international level we cooperate with FFII, FSF, Project Gutenberg, and many others.