Council Presidency Adopts Software Patent Agreement Against Council's Rules. Opponents are furious that the EU Council
has approved the Computer Implemented Inventions Directive
.
Luxembourg negated the Council's own Rules of Procedure, which state that a B-item (which is at the same time a request to remove an A item) can only be rejected by the a majority of the Council, and not just by the Presidency. (art 3.8)
The objecting countries seem to have forgotten to request removal of the A-item from the agenda. Rules 3.1 + 3.7 would have given any single country the right to have the A-item removed, because the Luxemburg presidency had failed to insert it more than 14 days earlier. This is how Poland has removed A-items from the Agricultural & Fishery Council twice in the past.
Here's the full
Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure
statement.
The directive will now be passed to European Parliament, which can reject or amend the proposal, for a second reading.
And
what will Switzerland do
if this really goes through?
07.03.2005, 15:40