A EUROPEAN Court of Justice decision that internet service providers (ISPs) cannot be forced to monitor their networks for illegal file sharing, vindicates the approach taken by Irish music labels, according to their representative body.

The European Court of Justice found yesterday that “EU law precludes the imposition of an injunction by a national court which requires an internet service provider to install a filtering system with a view to preventing the illegal downloading of files”.

The decision related to a long-running court battle in Belgium where the music-copyright group Sabam had tried to force a local ISP Scarlet to monitor all traffic on its network to ensure copyrighted music was not being shared on it.

Dick Doyle, chief executive of Irma, the industry body for record labels, said the decision “reinforced” the approach it has adopted with Irish ISPs known as graduated response.

It has an agreement with Eircom whereby it notifies the company if it detects its customers are sharing copyrighted music on peer-to-peer services. If a customer is found to be repeatedly engaging in the activity, Eircom disconnects their broadband connection.

Irma has been lobbying for a change to Irish law so that other ISPs can be forced to implement a similar regime. At the High Court in October 2010, Mr Justice Peter Charleton found Irish legislation did not allow him to force other ISPs to adopt graduated response or the “three strikes” rule as it is also known.

In a rare show of unity, Alto, the body representing Irish telecoms operators, said it also was happy with the decision by the European court.

Ronan Lupton, chairman of Alto, said it showed people’s “fundamental rights” in relation to communications and the internet had to be respected by national courts. He also said it would prevent “disproportionate requests” from rights holders to ISPs.

A spokesman for Eircom said it was “still considering the decision and what it means” for the company.

The European Court of Justice found that ISPs can be forced to block access to certain websites that infringe copyright. Eircom blocks access to Swedish website The Pirate Bay at the request of Irma.

Following its out-of-court settlement with Irma, Eircom introduced a legal music service Eircom Music Hub. It is expected to launch a mobile version of the service next year.