Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-12-11-Speech-2-424"
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"en.20071211.42.2-424"2
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"Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, the debate about design protection of visible spare parts has indeed been going on for almost an entire generation of Members of this House. We have been discussing this for 17 years, but up to now we have not managed to reach a final agreement on this important economic law or to harmonise the laws of the Member States to a sufficient degree.
It is now three years since the launch of the present Commission proposal and finally we are going to vote on a first reading tomorrow. Mr Lehne’s report points us in the right direction. It has respect for the intellectual property of the design of the complex product as a whole and at the same time it gives us the scope for an internal market in spare parts to operate properly.
The present fragmentation of the internal market is no longer defensible. It deprives the producer of the parts – by which I mean the independent producer – of the opportunity afforded by the benefits of scale of the internal market. It deprives independent repair companies of the opportunity to choose their own suppliers, and it deprives the consumer of the opportunity or advantage of the downward pressure on prices that can normally be taken for granted when a competitive market is operating properly.
Now, with the new directive – Malcolm Harbour pointed this out just now too, the new directive on the type approval of vehicles – we have also removed the last obstacle, that of safety. It is therefore time to take the plunge and make a final decision. As far as I am concerned, we do not even need this five-year transitional arrangement any more, but as, throughout all these years – 16 of the 17 years of the debate – I too have learned that politics is the art of the possible, I can live with those five years, with that compromise.
To postpone it any longer, Madam President, really would not be acceptable. Let us here choose the internal market. This is an aspect of the internal market which we can very clearly demonstrate is to the advantage of the consumer. Let us make a choice for the consumer."@en1
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