Strasbourg, 24/10/2007 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 23 October, the European Commission announced that it would be asking the Council to give it a negotiating mandate for an Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) with the world's main industrialised countries, namely the United States, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, New Zealand and Switzerland. World trade in counterfeit products stands at around US$ 200bn a year (2% of total world trade). The ACTA would aim to boost enforcement of intellectual property rights (IPR) around the globe and help protect consumers' health from safety risks often associated with counterfeit goods. 'A new international anti-counterfeiting treaty will strengthen global cooperation and establish new international norms, helping to create a new global gold standard on IPR enforcement,' said EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson in a press release. The Commission says the ACTA could be a powerful way of tackling pirating and counterfeiting. It would be based on increased international cooperation through harmonised norms and better liaison between the countries signing up to the agreement, and would include transition measures and technical assistance to facilitate the process of getting advanced developing countries to agree with it. The ACTA would also make it possible to tighten common coercive practices and establish a modern legal framework reflecting the changing nature of violation of intellectual property rights in the global economy which was adapted to new threats like counterfeit medicines. (E.H.)