After France’s national assembly on Tuesday approved a bill that would warn, warn again, then disconnect illegal downloaders of copyrighted material, the country’s senate on Wednesday gave its backing, too, by a 189-14 majority. Wednesday’s vote in the upper house means the Creation Et L’Internet bill, pending appeal, will become law in France, creating an agency called Hadopi to monitor and warn ISP freeloaders. It’s unpopular with digital liberties activists - see our last story.

But this final approval sets up an imminent clash with Europe. In Strasbourg last week, European Parliamentarians - bitterly opposed to this form of “graduated response” -  voted for a third time to write in to a telecoms reform bill a stipulation that agencies like Hadopi must get court permission before disconnecting anyone.

Their refusal to let go of this amendment, despite a compromise agreement having been struck, has held up passage of the wider telecoms bill - if, heeding MEPs’ unrest, the European Commission convinces its Council Of Ministers that the amendment must stay, France’s new law would be in breach of European law and heading for a showdown in its Courts Of Justice.

The UK government, too, is keen to implement monitoring and warning, but proposed sanctions so far stop at bandwidth throttling and heavy-handed, unlikely copyright suits against customers.

(Photo: chs_paris, some rights reserved)

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