Brussels, 21/06/2016 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission gave its support on Tuesday 21 June to the “follow the money approach” that industry is pursuing. This approach seeks to deprive those guilty of intellectual property rights (IPR) infringements of their revenue flows.
“The Commission is promoting the 'follow the money' approach through the establishment of EU level dialogues between rights-holders and intermediaries to achieve agreements on a voluntary basis”, said Internal Market Commissioner Elzbieta Bienkowska, speaking at the IPR Enforcement Conference. These agreements, she said, “aim at reducing the level of commercial scale IPR infringements”.
On Tuesday, the Commission adopted a statement that seeks to facilitate and monitor the implementation on the ground of this kind of voluntary agreement. On the same day, an agreement was signed to tackle online sales of counterfeit products and articles in sportswear, fashion and luxury goods and electronic products. This follows on from a previous agreement signed in 2011 by internet platforms, brand owners and trade associations.
Currently, up to 5% of goods imported into the European Union are fakes, a situation that has serious consequences for many sectors of activity, particularly for SMEs. Counterfeit products can often, also, pose a threat to public health and safety.
The Commission is currently evaluating the IPR enforcement directive, on which it recently carried out a public consultation. (Original version in French by Maëlle Didion)