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The Canadian introduction of Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement compliance legislation on
Friday appears to have come in direct response to a new U.S.-led
effort to revive the discredited treaty. When the European
Parliament overwhelmingly voted to reject ACTA last July, many
declared it dead. But is not dead
yet: it is badly damaged and will seemingly never achieve the
goals of its
supporters as a model for other countries to adopt and to emerge
as a new
global standard for IP enforcement. But for the U.S., which
spent years pressuring ACTA participants to strike a deal, the
strategy now appears to revive the agreement by at least
garnering the necessary six ratifications for it to take effect.
The current ACTA signatories are Australia, Canada, Japan, Korea,
Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore, and the U.S. The European Union
and Switzerland are out. Japan formally acceded in October 2012, which
means the U.S. must find four more countries out of the remaining seven
for ACTA to take effect. Canada is a clear target, as evidenced by the USTR 2013 Trade Policy Agenda released on Friday. It
states:
The United States
continues to encourage Canada to provide for deterrent level
sentences to be imposed for IPR violations, as well as meet its
Anti-Counterfeit Trade Agreement (ACTA) obligations by providing
its customs officials with ex officio authority to stop the
transit of counterfeit and pirated products through its
territory.
Canada has no ACTA
"obligations" - how could it given that the treaty is not in force
and Canada has not ratified it - but the U.S. pressure paid quick
dividends with the introduction
of Bill C-56, which is clearly designed to put Canada into a
position to ratify the agreement.
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