New EU Communication On Increased IP Enforcement

BRUSSELS – The European Commission Trade Directorate today announced the adoption of a “communication on enhancing the enforcement of intellectual property rights” within the European Union internal market that aims at greater coordination but stops short of new legislative measures.

The Commission laid out “practical initiatives to respond to the dramatic and damaging effect that counterfeiting and piracy is having on EU economies and on society in general,” it said in a release. The Commission plans to increase collaboration between the private sector, national authorities and consumers.

Internal Market and Services Commissioner Charlie McCreevy was quoted as saying more legislation is not what is needed to stem counterfeiting that is harming EU innovation and creativity, but rather stronger collaboration under existing laws. This will ensure an “efficient, proportionate and predictable system of enforcement,” the release said. The EU implemented a new EU Observatory on counterfeiting and piracy in 2008 which will bring stakeholders together to gather, analyse and respond to data. The communication also calls on the 27 EU member states to designate national coordinators, and an electronic network for information sharing is being set up. And it calls for coalitions between stakeholders in “collaborative voluntary arrangements” which it said could be extended beyond European borders.

The communication came from the Commission’s “IPR Strategy for Europe” adopted last year and builds on a recent European Council (member state representatives) resolution on a comprehensive anti-counterfeiting and anti-piracy plan, it said.

There was no mention of the ongoing negotiation of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA). There also was no mention of problems of European national authorities’ erroneous seizures of legitimate generic medicines passing through from India to developing countries, which could be the subject of a World Trade Organization dispute brought by India.

The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) praised the announcement and committed to working fully on the measures. But it also called for stronger legislative solutions in the future.

“Action is needed now. Past experience has shown that such a non-legislative approach, while an excellent platform, does have its limits in delivering real change,” IFPI Chairman and CEO John Kennedy said in a statement. “We will therefore do everything to support these new measures, while at the same time working with the Commission on the next step, which in our view would consist of strengthening the legislative framework.”

The Commission communication is available here.

The Council resolution is available here [pdf].