Ending months of intense talks, EU lawmakers and governments agre...

establishment of a new body to improve cooperation between national telecommunications regulators, they said. Legislative debate on the three reports is set for Tuesday, with a plenary vote Wednesday, they said. Parts of the compromise continue to spark criticism from industry and digital rights groups. An earlier amendment requiring a judicial order for termination of a suspected copyright pirate’s Internet access was changed to allow such actions by “an independent and impartial tribunal established by law,” subject to due process under human rights protections. The draft requires a legal interpretation of human-rights law to establish when termination is inequitable, said Society for Public Spaces CEO Philippe Aigrain (CD April 30 p7). The Business Software Alliance said Thursday that it favors procedures to deal with persistent digital pirates, such as the controversial “three-strikes” approach where suspected infringers are warned and then subject to Internet access shut-off as a last resort. But enforcement “should require a court order from the responsible judicial authorities,” it said. The BSA also opposes an amendment by some EU lawmakers requiring users to be notified before cookies are stored on their computers. If adopted by the full parliament next week, the provision will subject consumers to a “barrage of pop-up windows” to accept cookies, and create a patchwork of cookie policies as each EU member adopts its own version of the telecommunications rules, said Senior EU Policy Director Francisco Mingorance. The amendments could be reintroduced during plenary debate, but it’s unclear how they'll fare given the provisional agreement between the parliament and governments.