Brussels, 28/03/2001 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission and Orgalime, an organisation representing European industrial federations, launched an appeal, on Wednesday, to combat any form of injury caused by counterfeiting. In a seminar on the threat that this practice represents for European industry, Orgalime called on European institutions to take "concrete measures to combat counterfeiting in the internal market and at international level". A delegation from the Chinese government took part in the debates. The International Chamber of Commerce estimates the counterfeit products represent between 5 and 7% of world trade (between 250 and 280 billion euro). According to companies, close to 90% of this production originates in China. Enrico Carle pleaded in favour of "greater cooperation between the European authorities and better exchange in information between Member States to encourage the emergence of legislation that strengthens intellectual property rights and effective implementation of exiting laws". He called for the creation of a Community patent. The European Commission recalled that it was in active discussions with the countries where counterfeiting was widespread. Wei Shan, the representative of the Chinese authorities, announced "important changes when China is part of the WTO". The agreement on intellectual property rights relating to trade, concluded within the WTO, provides for each party having to act against counterfeiting. A recent survey in France, revealed that among all companies in the "metal and electric" branch, 17.8% of companies have their products counterfeited.