Brussels, 26/09/2012 (Agence Europe) - With a majority of 25 votes (3 votes against), the internal market and consumer protection committee at the European Parliament gave a mandate to rapporteur Jürgen Creutzmann (ALDE, Germany) to open negotiations with the Council for a second reading agreement on the regulation introducing new customs rules on how customs officials confiscate and store imports of counterfeit or pirated goods that infringe intellectual property rights. Last July (see EUROPE 10648) the plenary voted for the resolution by a large majority (397 votes in favour, 259 against, with 26 abstentions) to amend the draft Commission regulation on this issue. The amended proposal: (1) ensures that the person who would have received the goods has five days in which to object to their destruction; (2) ensures that buyers who bought them in good faith do not also have to pay the cost of destroying them; (3) defines the notion of “small postal consignments” (not defined in the Commission proposal); and (4) explains that generic medicines are not delayed or confiscated when transited in the EU unless there is clear and convincing evidence that they are intended for sale in the EU. (FG/trans.fl)