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The U.K. government said Friday it wants a new law by April 2009 obligating ISPs to stop illegal file sharing on their networks, marking one of the most assailing stances yet in Europe to counter Internet piracy.

In the meantime, the government related it will look at "statutory solutions" that could be used until a law is in place, as well as tougher penalties for copyright infringement.

The warnings came in a recital released Friday from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, which looks at how the U.K.'s creative industries can be better supported.

In the U.K., ISPs (Internet service providers) have been in voluntary discussions with copyright holders on ways to combat file sharing on P-to-P (peer-to-peer) networks but so far have not reached any agreement.

If no agreement is reached, "the government will equip itself to introduce legislation with speed if suitable arrangements between ISPs and relevant sectors are not forthcoming or prove insufficient," the circulate publicly said.

That kind of legislation would essentially require ISPs to examine what content a subscriber is downloading, flaw a range of privacy concerns.

Representatives of the U.K.'s Internet Service Providers' Association could not be reached for comment, but the ISP industry generally opposes measures that would want monitoring of contented on their networks.

That view is supported in existing in European Union and U.K. directives, which says ISPs are not liable for material passing on their networks.

The U.K.'s moves come as other European countries consider of recent origin ways to make out piracy. France is expected to introduce a bill shortly that will request ISPs to cut off Internet adit to subscribers who persistently apportioned lot material under copyright without permission after receiving a warning.

Earlier this month in Denmark, a court ordered one of the country's largest ISPs to block access to a Web site that forms a critical part of the BitTorrent file-sharing network. The ISP, Tele2, plans to fight the order.

Music and movie industry groups have supported the creation of laws to stop piracy. The Federation Against Copyright Theft welcomed the government's move, saying in a statement it fosters a greater respect for intellectual exclusive right.

File sharing has not only posed a legal problem for ISPs but also a technical one.

The heavy use of P-to-P services such as BitTorrent and eDonkey has strained networks. ISPs have contended that file sharing has degraded the quality of utility since their subscribers.

Although estimates vary by region, P-to-P traffic can comprise between 50 percent and 90 percent of all Internet traffic on an ISP's network, according to iPoque, a Germany company that specializes in appliances for ISPs to manage networks.

Comcast, a major U.S. ISP, newly admitted to using techniques to slow down P-to-P traffic in order to provide more consistent service. Comcast denies blocking any content.