Topic: COPYRIGHT - on February 15, 2012 at 1:55:00 PM CET
EUROPA - Press Releases - Transparency of ACTA negotiations
MEMO/12/99
Brussels, 13 February 2012
Transparency of ACTA negotiations (Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement)
The negotiations of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) started in June 2008 and were finalised in November 2010.
The European Union was represented during the negotiations by European Commission officials, as well as representatives of our Member States because ACTA touches upon both exclusive competences of the European Union and competences which are shared with the Member States. This factsheet aims at clarifying the way the European Parliament, civil society and all stakeholders have been informed and involved in the negotiation process.
Who sat at the negotiation table?
During the negotiation rounds, government officials from the negotiating countries were present in the room.
(see annex for a list of participants from the European Commission and the Member States):
For the European Union, this included a group of 4-8 Commission officials from the Directorates-General for Trade, Internal Market and Services, Justice, Information Society and Media, and Taxation and Customs Union. Moreover a group of 2-4 officials from the Member State holding the rotating EU Presidency were present, since they negotiated the criminal provisions on behalf of the EU Member States (criminal aspects of IPR enforcement being a Member State competence before the Lisbon Treaty and a shared competence after the entry into force of this treaty).
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