USTR Releases Summary of Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement

On April 4, 2009, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) released a detailed summary of the current state of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) negotiations. The summary sets out the specific topics being negotiated and reflects the Obama Administration's commitment to transparency. The summary is being shared with stakeholders for review and comment.

"I am grateful to our partners in the ACTA negotiations for working with us in a joint effort to prepare this summary," said U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk. "We look forward to taking more steps to engage with the public in our efforts to make trade work for American families."

The objective of the ACTA negotiations is to draft a new, state-of-the art agreement to assist governments around the world in their efforts to combat the proliferation of counterfeit and pirated goods, which undermine legitimate trade and the sustainable development of the world economy, and in some cases contributes to organized crime and exposes American families to dangerous fake products. The United States has been working with several trade partners, including Australia, Canada, the European Union and its 27 member states, Japan, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, and Switzerland, to negotiate the agreement.

Negotiations on the ACTA began in June 2008. In preparation for those negotiations and since then, the USTR has reached out to the public for its views and to exchange information on several occasions. The summary can be found on the USTR website at www.ustr.gov. Members of the public with questions about the summary or the status of the negotiations should contact Kira Alvarez, Chief Negotiator and Deputy Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Intellectual Property Enforcement at (202) 395-4510.

-- Stanley Pfrang