In the conclusions adopted at the opening of the Competitiveness Council on Monday 12 March, EU member states gave their support to the European Commission proposals on protecting International Property Rights (IPR). They also said that they wanted to strengthen their cooperation to fight more efficiently against counterfeiting and piracy.
In connection with the strategy for the single market of October 2015 (see EUROPE 11417, 11419), the Commission presented guidelines at the end of November 2017 to clarify interpretation of the IPRED directive on intellectual property rights and guidelines for patents essential for the implementation of a specific industry standards (BEN) and decided to strengthen its cooperation with third countries. It also proposed to set up an experts' group that would work exclusively on intellectual property rights (see EUROPE 11915).
In their conclusions, the member states welcome the "holistic" approach adopted by the Commission and the adaptations it proposes for the Internet. They call on the latter to pursue its analysis and to “strengthen" the common interpretation of the IPRED directive with the help of more targeted complementary orientations. Above all, they would like the Commission to provide aid to the national customs control authorities and EU external borders as part of the EU Customs Action Plan. They also call on the member states to examine the possibility of developing certain specialist judges to implement intellectual property rights, in close cooperation with the European Observatory on Infringements of Intellectual Property Rights, as well as the “systematic” publication of judgements on cases involving implementation of IPR.
The Council is also launching an appeal to the business community to step up efforts to tackle piracy and counterfeiting by fighting against online advertising that violates IPR. In this regard, they are encouraging the use of protocols for agreements that also include social media, price comparison sites and call for greater coordination between national initiatives in order to provide a better breakdown of good practices.
Counterfeit and piracy products account for 2.5% of the value of world trade and their production is continuing to increase. In Europe, around 5% of all imports for goods and services come from counterfeiting or piracy and stand at an estimated value of €85 billion.
To consult the conclusions please see the following link: http://bit.ly/2HruZPG . (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)