Brussels, 29/04/2008 (Agence Europe) - On 13 May, the European Commission will be organising a conference on counterfeiting and piracy. Participants will tackle a number of different subjects, such as the effects of this phenomenon on economic growth and job creation in Europe, the risks to the health and safety and security of citizens and measures that are likely to make the fight against counterfeiting more effective. This conference is expected to bring MEPs together with representatives from the business community, the public authorities and civil society affected by this problem. Key speakers will include European Commissioner Charlie McCreevy, Arlene McCarthy MEP (PES, United Kingdom) and Philippe Lacoste (the Lacoste company).
According to a recent Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) study, the volume of counterfeit products in world trade represents a figure of $200 billion. The conference programme, as well as additional information on the fight against piracy and counterfeiting, is available at the following site: http: //ec.europa.eu/internal_ec.europa.eu/internal_market/iprenforcement. (L.C.)