Three weeks after its rejection by a handful of deputies, the law Creation et Liberté – aimed at clamping down on the illegal downloading of copyrighted material – was brought back before the French Assemblée Nationale on Wednesday for discussions scheduled to last until 12 May when a final vote will take place, this time expected to give the green light.

On Monday, the National Assembly’s law commission (Commission des Lois) adopted the draft which has been rejected on 9 April. The text obliges the user whose Internet connection has been suspended to continue paying his broadband contract for the duration of the sanction.

The debate promises to be heated as a new element in the draft calls for the monitoring of all “electronic communications” related to a URL under surveillance for illegal transactions. Some suggest this monitoring might encompass emails and, especially, streaming, seen as the new hard-to-detect weapon of pirate sites.

A clash with Brussels looks unavoidable. On 21 April, members of the European Parliament’s Industry, Research and Energy commission voted an amendment, part of a telecom reform law, which bans “any restriction to the rights and fundamental liberties of Internet users without prior decision from a judge.”

This is at odd with the French legislation which, if adopted, would empower a new administrative body, the so-called HADOPI (Haute autorité pour la diffusion des oeuvres et la protection des droits de l'internet) to impose sanctions, not a judge.

Story filed 29.04.09