Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA)

The Honourable Ed Fast, Minister of International Trade and Minister for the Asia Pacific Gateway, signed the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement on behalf of Canada on October 1, 2011 at a ceremony in Tokyo alongside Australia, Japan, Morocco, New Zealand, the Republic of Korea, Singapore and the United States. (See News Release: Canada signs Historic Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement; and Photo Release: Canada Signs Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement)

Background

In October 2007, the Government of Canada announced that it would participate in discussions towards an Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA). ACTA negotiating partners, a group which includes along with Canada, Australia, the European Union and its member countries, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore, Switzerland, and the United States, concluded negotiations in October 2010 and completed the legal verification of the ACTA text in April 2011. The objective of the ACTA is to put in place international standards for enforcing intellectual property rights in order to fight more efficiently the growing problems of counterfeiting and piracy. The agreement covers three areas: improving international cooperation, establishing best practices for enforcement, and providing a more effective legal framework and is open for signature as of May 1, 2011.

ACTA participants successfully finalized the English, French and Spanish versions of the ACTA text on April 15, 2011. The text of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) is now authentic in English, French and Spanish.

Resources

Contact Point

If you have questions or comments, please contact Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada at:

Intellectual Property Trade Policy Division (TMI)
Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada
Lester B. Pearson Building
125 promenade Sussex Drive
Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0G2
Fax: 613-944-0066
E-mail: consultations@international.gc.ca