The fact that Bulgaria has signed the controversial ACTA agreement will not change anything in the country, Bulgarian Minister of Economy Traicho Traikov believes.

"If you ate asking for my personal opinion, I am skeptical about the notion that ACTA will change anything, especially in Bulgaria, which has always been among the leaders when it comes to altering its legislation in that area," Traikov commented on Tuesday, as cited by dnevnik.bg.

According to Traikov, Bulgaria is among the countries whose current laws fit to the largest extend with ACTA, which means that bigger commitments are necessary for the other states that have signed it.

Even though the document was secretly signed by Bulgaria's Ambassador to Japan last week, the Economy Minister has expressed his certainty that debates will take place before it is ratified in the country.

Transcripts from the meeting of the Council of Ministers from January 11 reveal that it had been precisely Traikov who had made the proposal for Bulgaria to sign ACTA, which stirred much discontent in the country, both because it had not been discussed by the members of the cabinet and because the public had been kept entirely in the dark about the decision to sign ACTA, until prominent Bulgarian bloggers and lawyers stirred large-scale noise about it. They lashed out at the signing of ACTA because they believe the agreement will bind countries to install legal regulations that excessively and unduly broadly penalize Internet users.

ACTA has already raised an outcry internationally, as it is expected to make downloading content similar to forgery of brands.

22 out of the 27 EU member states have signed ACTA, along with countries such as the USA, Japan, Canada, Australia, South Korea and Switzerland.

Among EU Member States, Germany, Cyprus, Estonia, Slovakia and the Netherlands have postponed their signing.

In order to become effective in Bulgaria, ACTA must first be ratified by the European Parliament and then by the Bulgarian Parliament, which is expected to happen no earlier than June.

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