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MEPs voted 571-38 in favour of the motion by Jules Maaten which he described as an "unusual, but effective way" to promote freedom of expression.

The proposal will now pass to the European Council and, once it has submitted any amendments, it stands a good chance of being adopted as EU law. It means that countries, notably China, which widely restrict internet access, may be subject to trade sanctions.

"The 'Great Chinese Firewall' should be seen as an international trade barrier," Maaten claims. "In addition to American companies like Google, Yahoo and Microsoft, European internet companies like Wanadoo, Telecom Italia, and France Telecom have to unwillingly censor their services in authoritarian states."

But China is not alone in imposing restrictions on net content. Countries such as Cuba and even Australia - which from January required "content service providers" to verify and enforce the minimum age of all individuals attempting to access restricted content - also impose some form of censorship.