Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement

ACTA

Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement French: Accord commercial anti-contrefaçon Spanish: Acuerdo Comercial Anti-Falsificación
Type	Plurilateral agreement
Drafted	15 November 2010 (final revision)[1] 15 April 2011 (formal publication)[2]
Signed	1 October 2011
Location	Tokyo, Japan
Effective	Not in force
Condition	Ratification by six states
Negotiators	Australia  Canada  European Union  Japan  Mexico  Morocco  New Zealand  Singapore  South Korea   Switzerland  United States
Signatories	Australia  Canada  European Union (+22 members)[3]  Japan  Mexico[4]  Morocco  New Zealand  Singapore  South Korea  United States
Parties	1 (Japan)[5]
Ratifiers	Japan
Depositary	Government of Japan
Languages	English, French and Spanish
Full text
Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement at Wikisource

The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) is a multilateral treaty for the purpose of establishing international standards for intellectual property rights enforcement that did not enter into force. The agreement aims to establish an international legal framework for targeting counterfeit goods, generic medicines and copyright infringement on the Internet, and would create a new governing body outside existing forums, such as the World Trade Organization, the World Intellectual Property Organization, and the United Nations.

The agreement was signed in October 2011 by Australia, Canada, Japan, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, and the United States.^[6] In 2012, Mexico, the European Union and 22 countries that are member states of the European Union signed as well.^[7] One signatory (Japan) has ratified (formally approved) the agreement, which would come into force in countries that ratified it after ratification by six countries.

Industrial groups with interests in copyright, trademarks and other types of intellectual property said that ACTA was a response to "the increase in global trade of counterfeit goods and pirated copyright protected works". Organizations such as the Motion Picture Association of America and International Trademark Association are understood to have had a significant influence over the ACTA agenda.^[8]

Organisations representing citizens and non-governmental interests argued that ACTA could infringe fundamental rights including freedom of expression and privacy. ACTA has also been criticised by Doctors Without Borders for endangering access to medicines in developing countries.^[9] The nature of negotiations was criticized as secretive and has excluded non-governmental organizations, developing countries and the general public from the agreement's negotiation process and it has been described as policy laundering by critics including the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Entertainment Consumers Association.

The signature of the EU and many of its member states resulted in widespread protests across Europe. European Parliament rapporteur Kader Arif resigned. His replacement, British MEP David Martin, recommended that the Parliament should reject ACTA, stating: "The intended benefits of this international agreement are far outweighed by the potential threats to civil liberties". On 4 July 2012, the European Parliament declined its consent, effectively rejecting it, 478 votes to 39, with 165 abstentions.^[10][11]