Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA)
June 12, 2009
Japanese
- Australia, Canada, the European Union and its Member States, Japan,
South Korea, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore, Switzerland and the
United States today announced that they are moving forward on the negotiation
of an Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) to step up the fight against
global counterfeiting and piracy.
- The participants in the ACTA negotiations will next meet in Morocco
in July to continue their discussions with a view to reaching an agreement
in 2010. Today’s announcement emphasizes the participants’ goal to combat
global infringements of intellectual property rights(IPR), particularly
in the context of counterfeiting and piracy, by increasing international
cooperation, strengthening the framework of practices that contribute to
effective enforcement, and strengthening relevant IPR enforcement measures
themselves.
- In addition, the ACTA negotiators reaffirmed the importance of information
disclosure on the progress on ACTA to the public.
- Negotiations on the ACTA began in June 2008. The objective of the ACTA
negotiations is to negotiate a new, state-of-the art agreement to combat
counterfeiting and piracy. The Parties negotiating the agreement include
Australia, Canada, the European Union and its 27 Member States, Japan, Mexico,
Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Switzerland and the United
States. When it is finalized, the ACTA is intended to assist in the efforts
of governments around the world to more effectively combat the proliferation
of counterfeit and pirated goods, which undermines legitimate trade and
the sustainable development of the world economy, and in some cases contributes
to organized crime and exposes consumers to dangerous fake products.
- The Government of Japan looks to actively lead discussions with the order concerned countries with a view to concluding the ACTA as early as possible.
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Related Information (Intellectual Property)