INTERNET USERS' RIGHTS : BREAK IN STALEMATE ON TELECOMS PACKAGE.

The European establishment claimed victory and expressed relief after the French Constitutional Council on 10 June struck down a French law that gave an administrative authority (Hadopi) the right to cut off the internet service of users who download content illegally. Only a judge may decide on the restriction of freedoms such as suspending internet access, the French Council ruled.

The stormy French debate on the Hadopi bill against illegal downloading was linked to a major EU reform of telecoms rules, which began two and a half years ago and is primarily aimed at stimulating competition and improving consumer protection. The French ruling will allow the so-called EU telecoms package to take off at last.

Tabled by French Socialist Guy Bono and Franco-German Green Daniel Cohn-Bendit, amendment 138 of the EU reform clearly aimed to topple the Hadopi law (or more precisely, the attempts to validate it at a European level), by asserting that any restriction on internet access requires a "prior decision" by a court because of a person's fundamental rights to information and expression.

The EU amendment was passed at first reading by the European Parliament in September 2008 and confirmed at second reading last May, in both cases by a comfortable majority. The Council of Ministers, and particularly France, rejected the amendment. The Commission and parliament rapporteurs railed against the ...