Commission welcomes Council support for plans to combat counterfeiting and piracy more effectively - Main contents
The Competitiveness Council adopted a Resolution on a comprehensive EU anti-counterfeiting plan. This Resolution adds momentum to existing Commission plans to step up the fight against counterfeiting and piracy.
Internal Market Commissioner Charlie McCreevy i said: "We have to stamp out counterfeiting. It is harming our innovative industries, our economic growth and job creation. The spiralling amount of counterfeit goods coming on the market, is striking at the very heart of the manufacturing industry in Europe, undermining the future development of companies who produce tried and trusted brands. And we must keep the criminal world firmly in our focus. Former cocaine and other illegal drug dealing crime gangs are now turning to peddling counterfeit pharmaceuticals because there is quicker, easier money to be made and more of it. These people do not care about society or about the health and safety of our citizens."
The EU anti-counterfeiting plan focuses on measures aimed at facilitating stakeholder dialogues and voluntary inter-industry agreements to tackle the most imminent problems, improving coordination between Member States, and helping to build key partnerships between enforcers and industry to develop information sharing and analysis.
The political signal given today by the Council supports the Commission's ambition to build on a robust legal framework by demonstrating a more practical and "zero-tolerance" approach to counterfeiting.
For more information:
http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/iprenforcement/index_en.htm