According to a report on Euractiv.com, the Irish presidency persuaded the Parliament that more time was needed in order to achieve a majority vote within the Council.
The draft Directive on the Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights, issued by the Commission in January last year, is intended to aid rights holders in their fight against counterfeiting and piracy. It could result in increased fines and prison sentences for those infringing the rights of patent, copyright and trade mark holders.
The UK Government is currently consulting on the draft, but the Commission proposals have already been subjected to criticism, with the music industry labelling them "inadequate" in tackling piracy.
In November the European Parliament's Legal Affairs Committee approved an amended draft, and the Council issued a third version in January, in the form of a draft common position paper.
This draft has been criticised too, with civil liberties group European Digital Rights (EDRi) commenting:
"The Council paper unites many of the worst proposals on this Directive so far, while carefully working around most of the good ones."
The various versions must be reconciled before the draft Directive is passed, and it seems that there is still disagreement within the Council of Ministers as to what should be included.
According to the Euractiv report, the Irish Presidency - keen to have the matter resolved before it hands over the presidency in July - asked the Parliament to postpone its vote on the draft in order that the divisions within the Council can be addressed. The presidency appears to be working towards a Council vote on 11th March.