

Polish Prime Minister suspends the ACTA ratification - kolinko
http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?ie=UTF8&rurl=translate.google.com&sl=pl&tl=en&twu=1&u=http://wiadomosci.gazeta.pl/wiadomosci/1,114884,11084929,Tusk__Zawieszamy_ratyfikacje_ACTA.html&usg=ALkJrhgCMqCs8vdKXp6gBfQmQmA8awpeMQ

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majke
It is worth noting that this happened after 250000 signatures were gathered
for the referendum about ACTA:

[http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=pl&tl=en&js...](http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=pl&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fforsal.pl%2Fartykuly%2F589187%2Cprotest_przeciw_acta_250_tys_podpisow_pod_referendum.html&act=url)

~~~
zalew
500.000 are needed to make an official application for a referendum, which of
course can be rejected by the parliament.

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majke
Interesting comment from an influential blogger, who was fighting against ACTA
since the beginning (and is also a lawyer):

<http://prawo.vagla.pl/node/9662> (Polish)
[http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?hl=en&...](http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?hl=en&ie=UTF8&prev=_t&rurl=translate.google.com&sl=pl&tl=en&twu=1&u=http://prawo.vagla.pl/node/9662&usg=ALkJrhiZGWGgsKRt-
qAq278VM0sfpnVzhA) (translation)

Executive summary: It doesn't matter what Tusk says, Poland will be covered by
ACTA when EU ratifies it.

~~~
ajuc
> It doesn't matter what Tusk says, Poland will be covered by ACTA when EU
> ratifies it.

If EU ratifies ACTA, but Poland not, "only" the part of ACTA that is under EU
competentions will be binding ("only", because that's like 90% of the whole
treaty).

But it is debatable if Poland has even the possibility to never ratify a
signed treaty.

Also - any new law has to be compatible with signed international treatis,
even if these treaties are not ratified).

~~~
nokcha
>any new law has to be compatible with signed international treatis

If that is so, then how would Poland withdraw from a treaty that it has
entered? In the U.S., the government can withdraw from a treaty simply by
passing a law doing so. _Reid v. Covert_ , 354 U.S. 1 (1957) ("when a statute
which is subsequent in time is inconsistent with a treaty, the statute to the
extent of conflict renders the treaty null").

~~~
ajuc
If I understand correctly, we can withdraw from the whole treaty. But until it
remains signed, even before ratifying it, we can't create law that is not
compatible with it.

But IANAL, just have read about ACTA etc recently, mostly on Vagla blog.

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zalew
_Temporarily_ suspends, it is said that they won't be resumed before end of
2012, but it doesn't mean ACTA won't be ratified at all, so let's not
celebrate too soon.

Consultations are to be started Monday at 1400 local time.

~~~
zalew
update: all is pure BS <http://goo.gl/IAEKs>

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_marcin
It's all b#llsh!t what PM Tusk says. The whole "suspension" idea is simply
wrong according to Article 18 "Obligation not to defeat the object and purpose
of a treaty prior to its entry into force" of "Vienna Convention on the Law of
Treaties" which says:

"A State is obliged to refrain from acts which would defeat the object and
purpose of a treaty when:

(a) it has signed the treaty or has exchanged instruments constituting the
treaty subject to ratification, acceptance or approval, until it shall have
made its intention clear not to become a party to the treaty; or

(b) it has expressed its consent to be bound by the treaty, pending the entry
into force of the treaty and provided that such entry into force is not unduly
delayed."

I'm Polish and I have to honestly admit: my country has so many stupid
political leaders, that I often feel just helpless about it.

~~~
toyg
"I'm %s and I have to honestly admit: my country has so many stupid political
leaders, that I often feel just helpless about it." % countries.get_any()

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ad80
First of all this is a reaction to polls giving the ruling party a significant
drop of acceptance within the young people, who have always been the strongest
support group for them.

Second thing, let's don't be naive. Tusk knows very well that what was there
to sign in Japan, has been signed. It's to late to stop certain things, it's
all cold thinking about the popularity and the party has to be punished in the
elections anyway... although the alternative is still terrible...

~~~
kijin
Wow, a country with a ruling party whose strongest support group is young
people. Compared to a lot of other countries, I'd say there's hope for Poland.

~~~
praptak
This is only telling about the alternatives :)

The left? Lots of scandals which they tried to deny/cover. Lost trust, their
new leader perceived as sleazy. The "right"? They cater to religious old
people and their fears of change. PSL? Farmers' & big food interests. Palikot?
He _is_ the one catering to the young (reduce influence of the church,
legalize MJ) but IMHO he's trying too hard to be perceived as trustworthy.

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Atropos
On the one hand this is a great result, congratulations to the Polish
activists for acting and achieving this!

However I'm a bit sad the protests happened so late and only in Poland. ACTA
had been negotiated since 2008, the final draft being leaked online in 2010...
Since some members including USA signed already on 1 October 2011,
realistically it already was to late to stop it.

Maybe if SOPA had happened 1 year earlier, the spillover activism could have
stopped ACTA too? :/

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jch0
I've put my translation of another article from GW on

    
    
      http://www.pps.jussieu.fr/~jch/gazeta-wyborcza-20120203.text
    

\--jch

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ihsw
Suspending ratification is only temporary, there needs to be legislation
making much of it illegal.

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bgentry
Is there a source for this article that doesn't rely on Google translate?

~~~
ajuc
All English sources, that google knows about :

[http://news.google.pl/news/story?ncl=dt6kARLjrYdhuXMdAaT2Ct-...](http://news.google.pl/news/story?ncl=dt6kARLjrYdhuXMdAaT2Ct-
xyQLBM&hl=en)

------
hastur
It's purely PR, since Poland signed ACTA already on Jan 26th with 21 other EU
countries. Now ratification is mainly up to the EU Parliament. A "yes" vote in
EU will mean 90% of ACTA still applies in Poland, regardless of national
ratification.

PM Tusk pretends to be making mends with the outraged internet community. I
wonder if anyone will buy that b#llsh!t.

On the other hand, Poland is still pretty awesome to have some actual public
debate about ACTA. In most countries, 99% of citizens haven't even heard that
acronym, not to mention understanding it or agreeing / opposing it.

~~~
kolinko
Well - I'm happy (for now), because the government admitted it's mistake in
not consulting ACTA with all the interested parties. For me, it was the most
important thing.

As for ACTA being ratified by EU, Polish government admitting that they were
wrong will help in killing it in the EU parliament. I can't imagine any polish
party voting "FOR" now.

Finally - the thing I'm really hoping that will happen is that the future
changes in the law will be consulted with the society. Politicians will think
thrice before signing a copyright extension law, or software patent laws.

Edit: but you're right. Our government kept telling us that the signature
means nothing, because our Sejm needs to still ratify ACTA. Now I'm hearing
that polish Sejm can do jack to stop the ratification, wtf.

~~~
metachris
I sure hope it gets killed in the European Parlament vote, but Poland itself
has just 50 seats out of 754
(<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Parliament>).

