Countries finalise ACTA

The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement was finalised in November.

More than 30 countries, including the EU and its member states, Japan, Korea and the US, have negotiated the agreement, which seeks to harmonise IP enforcement rules across multiple jurisdictions.

The agreement is now subject to legal verification by the countries that wish to sign up to it. Once verification is complete, the negotiation participants can submit the agreement to their respective authorities for domestic implementation.

According to a joint statement from the participants in the negotiations, the proliferation of counterfeiting and piracy is a priority of ACTA, as it “undermines legitimate trade and the sustainable development of the world economy”.

The statement added: “[The agreement] includes state-of-the-art provisions on the enforcement of intellectual property rights, including provisions on civil, criminal, border and digital environment enforcement measures.”

The International Trademark Association and The International Chamber of Commerce’s Business Action to Stop Counterfeiting and Piracy welcomed the release of the final text, and in partnership with the Business Response Group, which consists of 18 associations that support ACTA, submitted a memo to the participants of the ACTA negotiations.