ACTA draft finally released to the public

The ACTA agreement intends to combat illegal reproduction and sales of intellectual property

An initial draft of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) has been published today.

The release of the draft comes soon after many governments and campaign groups voiced fears over the secrecy and lack of transparency displayed by those drafting the agreement.

The “predecisional/deliberative draft” shows that the overall objective of ACTA is to address large-scale infringements of intellectual property rights that have a significant economic impact.

According to the European Union, ACTA will “by no means lead to a limitation of civil liberties or to harassment of consumers”, and will be fully in line with current EU legislation.

This is in line with a statement released earlier this week, which confirmed that ACTA will not ask border authorities to search travellers’ baggage or their personal electronic devices for materials that infringe copyright. Neither will it require governments to mandate a "graduated response" or "three strikes" approach to IP theft.

The draft does state, however, that the immunity from legal action that internet service providers (ISPs) currently possess for their customers’ copyright infringements should be dependent on them taking action to combat copyright infringement. However, the actions ISPs will be required to take are as yet loosely defined.

The treaty is being negotiated by national governments in private, outside of existing trade bodies such as the World Trade Organisation or the World Intellectual Property Organisation. The negotiations have been going on for over two years, but the public has been kept in the dark regarding their contents.

Earlier this year, the House of Commons released a statement highlighting deep concerns about the secrecy surrounding the ACTA talks.

A campaigner from the Open Rights Group said: “It is a great victory for campaigners that the draft has been released and for once there has been any transparency at all.” This sentiment was echoed by EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht. "I am very glad that the EU convinced its partners to release the negotiation text," he said.

"The text makes clear what ACTA is really about: it will provide our industry and creators with better protection in overseas markets, which is essential for business to thrive. It will not have a negative impact on European citizens," he added.

The treaty is being negotiated by the US, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Canada, New Zealand and the European Commission. However, the agreement does not extend to many developing areas, such as China, Central Asia and Africa, where the highest rates of copyright infringement are.