Amongst those provisions, the following footnote allowed countries some flexibility in applying criminal procedures and penalties to cases of willful copyright infringement on a commercial scale:

With regard to copyright and related rights piracy provided for under paragraph 1, a Party may limit application of this paragraph to the cases in which there is an impact on the right holder's ability to exploit the work, performance or phonogram in the market.

Following the footnote back to its source, it is apparent that the reference to limiting "the application of this paragraph" is to a more specific list of criminal procedures and penalties that the parties are required to make available in such cases. Paraphrased, these are:

sentences of imprisonment as well as deterrent-level monetary fines;

higher penalties in more serious circumstances, such as threats to public health or safety;

seizure of suspected infringing items, the materials and implements used to produce them, and documentary evidence relating to them;

the release of those items, materials, implements and evidence for use in civil proceedings;