The main issues discussed were downloading, Internet hard goods piracy and the increase in pirated products all over the region.

AACT said that the situation in Malta is still continuously deteriorating and stalls at the Valletta market during the week and the Floriana Sunday market, as well as other markets and shops, are once again openly selling all the major titles on DVD prior to DVD release and sometimes prior to theatrical release. The same can be said for PlayStation games and CD-ROMs. Last week our investigators bought DVD copies of recent titles such as: Troy, The Passion of the Christ, Shrek 2, Harry Potter & the Prisoner of Azkaban, The Day after Tomorrow, Elf, Kill Bill 2, Dawn of the Dead as well as pirated PlayStation games. And all this with no VAT receipt.

Pirates are offering illegal copies through Internet sites and the films are generally copies recorded locally on DVD-R off downloaded films. Ironically, Malta has adopted all the EU directives, but it is tragic to see that these exist only on paper, AACT said. The police regularly carry out raids and bring charges against these criminals. Tragically, however, the fines imposed by the courts are so negligible that they have absolutely no deterrent effect on these offenders. The same people are continuing their illegal activities, over and over again. The fines they pay in court are only a cheap running expense to them, with no overheads like regularly licensed shops, the association added.

The AACT says it is deplorable and shameful that tiny Malta was openly mentioned among the worst pirate countries in Europe during the recent Cannes Film Festival. Instead of holding our head high in pride (as we should), when we think what we provide to the foreign film industry by way of locations and the other excellent services we offer as an island, we are openly put to shame on an international level, when the subject of piracy is discussed at such mega-important events as the Cannes Film Festival and other similar representations. AACT has had various meetings with the authorities, seemingly to little avail, as these pirates continue to have the upper hand with a safe haven encouraged by the laxity of the local laws, which must most emphatically change to follow the most evolved of our fellow European countries.

If this situation is allowed to continue, the effect on the local film-making industry, cinemas and legitimate DVD dealers and distributors could be devastating. The film-making industry in Malta is generating good employment and vast amounts of liri and unless piracy is controlled, the studios could decide to boycott the island as they already did before 1993. The cinema and legitimate distribution, rental and retail industries are suffering severe damage which will eventually lead to job and investment loss. It is obscene that a few people, who are well-known, are allowed to remain constantly dealing in pirate products in popular areas, without paying an equitable price at law.

AACT will be increasing its efforts during the coming months to fight this scourge and urges the consumer in general not to buy illegitimate products of any kind, be they DVDs, games, perfume, clothes etc. This is a battle which, the industries have to win. If this does not happen, the reaction will not be an indifferent issue.

It will not be just individual industries which will suffer but also the consumer in general down the line, since there will be fewer and fewer films to see, fewer and fewer games to play, less and less music and so on. This is not mere rhetoric, but a reality to be faced in the coming years if this calamity is allowed to continue. For statistical purposes, the police made over 15 raids this year when over 8,000 optical discs were seized. One person was charged by the police for selling pirated DVDs and games through the Internet. Customs also stopped over eight consignments of pirated products from the Far East. Three such consignments destined for Malta were also seized at Heathrow airport. Over 4,000 optical discs were seized. The Passion of the Christ was the most pirated title this year.