Controversial ACTA document to be signed on 1 October

Governments from major nations have agreed to hold the signing ceremony for the controversial Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) in Japan on 1 October, ending years of debate over its creation.

ACTA is a global agreement between countries including the US, Japan, Mexico and EU member states designed to combat copyright infringement and the trade in counterfeit goods.

Nations that have agreed to the document will be first to sign, while those that have yet to decide, including the European Commission, have been given a deadline of 1 May 2013.

However, many have spoken out against ACTA, arguing that it could usher in an era of internet surveillance and the levying of unduly harsh punishments against those accused of illegal file sharing and copyright infringement.

French advocacy group La Quadrature du Net is one of ACTA's chief opponents. Jérémie Zimmermann, a spokesman for the group, told V3 that, while the signing of ACTA is just "a formal step", it has "deep symbolic value".

Many of the ACTA negotiations were carried out behind closed doors, but were eventually made public after pressure from advocacy groups which pointed out that debates have to be held in the open under European law.

This also led European Data Protection Supervisor Peter Hustinx to say that ACTA would prove unworkable under current European Union data protection laws.