Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-03-09-Speech-2-031"
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"en.20040309.3.2-031"2
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"Mr President, we all know that counterfeiting and product piracy has reached epidemic proportions. The lack of harmonised enforcement rules means that counterfeiting is a low-risk business where for a low investment counterfeiting pirates are guaranteed enormous profits. The UK's Anti-Counterfeiting Group has estimated that as many as 4 000 people lose their jobs as a result of this trade and that the GBP 1.75 billion lost in VAT alone could build four new hospitals a year.
Finally, I would like to congratulate the rapporteur on her willingness to compromise, and the Irish presidency for its determination in forcing all parties to come to agreement. We must today take the bold step of voting this law onto the statute book. We must send a signal to counterfeiters and pirates that we are serious about closing the enforcement loopholes that they exploit. We must give judges and courts in the enlarged EU the option of a range of enforcement tools. It is time for the EU to get tough on counterfeiting and piracy. It is time we stopped allowing counterfeiters a free ride at the expense of consumers, legitimate businesses, EU jobs and the EU's competitiveness.
Clothing and footwear companies suffer the greatest losses and consumers are the victims. Their health and safety is put at risk with fake medicines, foodstuffs, toys coated in toxic lead, flammable children's clothing and fake alcohol containing high levels of methanol which has led not only to people being hospitalised but also, in one case in Scotland, to the death of a woman.
In my own region, north-west England, trading standards intellectual property groups' seizures of counterfeited pirate goods is on the increase. Here is one example: this is a Manchester United football shirt, coveted by many youngsters. It is a fake, but was sold to consumers on the high street at full price. Far from a bargain. This is a packet of Viagra, now available over the Internet. 50 000 such packets were seized at a house in Oldham. They are imported from Thailand and distributed by a vast network of counterfeiters across the region.
There is also a more sinister side to this counterfeiting and piracy. The Organised Crime Task Force in Northern Ireland has reported that nearly half of all organised crime groups are involved in IP crime. Two thirds of these groups have links to paramilitary organisations, so the draft law we are voting on today should be seen in context. It is not as ambitious, radical or draconian as many opponents would like to portray. Nor is it a panacea for rights holders. It is a first modest and cautious step in an EU-wide commitment to fight counterfeiting and piracy.
I would like to congratulate the Irish presidency for having agreed a text which is balanced and proportionate and whose actions are focused on tackling genuine and serious acts of infringement.
consumers engaged in acts on a commercial scale have nothing to fear from this new EU law, as consumers acting in good faith are excluded from its scope.
A further safeguard is that commercial scale is defined as acts resulting in commercial and financial gain. Moreover, action can only follow, as a result of a justified and proportionate request by the claimant, on the authority of a competent judge or court and only for intentional infringements on a commercial scale.
Contrary to the hysteria and misrepresentation spread by certain sections of the EU press, there is no question of dawn raids on teenagers in their homes. The law has no criminal provisions. It is restricted to civil and administrative remedies. There are no double damages. The directive reinforces judicial discretion and ensures that remedies are fair, equitable, proportionate and justified.
This is an enforcement directive and one that cannot write IP law. Nor can it rewrite it or change e-Commerce law, in particular the responsibility of ISPs as defined in Articles 12 to 15 of the e-Commerce directive. It cannot undermine the right to private copying as provided for in the Copyright directive, and in fact reinforces that right and protects the right of privacy. The actions taken must guarantee compliance with data protection laws.
Article 23 provides for an assessment of the impact of the directive and Parliament will take that seriously. The intention is to show that it is applied in a balanced and proportionate way and it should be stressed that the directive must not be used to abuse the right of legitimate competitors to enter the market place, in particular that for generic medicines."@en1
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"Bona fide"1
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