Personal care to benefit from anti-counterfeiting treaty
Companies from countries that sign up subject to criminal penalties
The personal care product sector should benefit from a new Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), now largely negotiated. A draft text has been released by the US, Australia, Canada, the EU, Japan, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea and Switzerland.
This plurilateral agreement protects cosmetics, soaps, scent and other consumer product manufacturers against illicit copies through tough criminal penalties for counterfeiters.
Agreement was forged in Tokyo in October on all major outstanding issues. US Trade Representative Ron Kirk hailed the deal as “tremendous progress in the fight against counterfeiting and piracy”.
Once the agreement is finally approved (a few details are still to be negotiated), it will bind signatories to “provide for criminal procedures and penalties… [for] willful trademark counterfeiting or copyright or related rights piracy on a commercial scale”. This would be punished with fines and imprisonment “sufficiently high to provide a deterrent”.
ACTA also insists signing countries allow companies to use civil courts to secure destruction orders for pirated copyright goods and counterfeit trademark goods, and that their courts have the authority to order the seizure and destruction of any copying machinery or equipment.
The idea is that ACTA becomes a global standard, adopted by major emerging economies, such as China, the source of so many counterfeit goods.
