Anti-piracy pact could take force in 2009: U.S.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A proposed international agreement to reign in the huge worldwide trade in fake and pirated goods could take effect in 2009, a U.S. trade official said on Friday.

"I think that there's a good prospect that will come into force next year. It's certainly something we will be encouraging the next administration to move forward with," Deputy U.S. Trade Representative John Veroneau said in remarks at the George Washington University law school.

The United States, the European Union, Japan and ten other countries have held several rounds of talks on the proposed agreement and are expected to meet again in mid-December.

The agreement has raised such concerns among digital rights advocates that the Bush administration held a public hearing in September to knock down worries that it would require customs officials to search laptop computers and music players for illegal downloads.

U.S. entertainment companies and Google, the world's largest search engine and owner of the popular video site YouTube, also have clashed over the question of whether the Internet should be covered by the pact.

U.S. trade officials hope to finish negotiations on the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement pact by of 2008, but say they won't agree to a bad deal to meet that deadline.

"We are working hard to meet our goals for the ACTA. One very important goal has always been to ensure that the ACTA is a high-quality agreement," said Scott Elmore, a spokesman for the U.S. Trade Representative's office.

The proposed pact is one of several trade initiatives the incoming administration of President-elect Barack Obama will have to evaluate when it takes office in January.

The Bush administration says the pact, unlike free trade agreements it has negotiated, would not have to be approved by Congress because it is a deal by the executive branch.