WRITTEN QUESTION E-3070/02

by Roberta Angelilli (UEN) to the Commission

(25 October 2002)

Subject: Counterfeiting of Italian fashion wear

In recent years the counterfeiting of Italian fashion wear has attained frightening proportions. In their two latest actions alone, which were conducted last summer as part of the Vie Libere operation, the Italian state police seized 48 000 counterfeit articles of clothing. This phenomenon threatens to drive many Italian companies out of business, as they have seen their profits shrink and have lost market share. A figure of between two and five million euros has been estimated, with a loss to the Italian treasury of 8,2 % in income tax and 21,3 % in VAT.

It is becoming increasingly common to find the counterfeited versions of the products sold in bona fide shops for sale nearby at drastically lower prices.

A survey conducted by the European Commission has revealed that the volume of counterfeit products placed on the EU market increased by 39 % in the period 2000-2001, and that these had an overall value of two billion euros.

Could the Commission therefore indicate:

1. What instruments it will adopt to intercept counterfeit products at the EU's external borders?

2. Whether all the requisite preventive measures to combat fraud have been adopted, as is laid down in Article 280 of the EC Treaty?

3. Whether any initiatives to harmonise European legislation in the field of the protection of industrial and commercial property rights are envisaged?

Joint answerto Written Questions E-3069/02 and E-3070/02given by Mr Bolkestein on behalf of the Commission

(19 December 2002)

It is true that the counterfeiting and piracy of goods protected by intellectual property rights currently pose a major problem for both producers and consumers throughout the EU.

1. The Commission attaches very great importance to protecting intellectual property rights both within the Union and at its external borders. In view of the 39 % increase in the volume of counterfeit and pirated goods intercepted by customs administrations at the external borders, and which are listed in the 2001 report, coupled with very strong pressure from economic operators, the Commission has prepared a proposal for a draft Community regulation aiming to improve customs controls in order to combat counterfeiting and piracy at the EU's external borders.

The Commission is also continuing to work closely with the Member States and right holders on customs checks at the Community's external borders by means of operational measures.

2. The European Commission's European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) is responsible for managing the Customs Information System (CIS) established by Regulation 515/97 on customs cooperation. This system will become operational from 15 January 2003 and will also be used to combat counterfeiting at the external borders through mutual assistance between the customs authorities and OLAF. The Commission also intends to propose a regulation on administrative cooperation between all the competent national authorities and the Commission (OLAF), as provided for in particular by the Commission's overall anti-fraud strategy of 28 June 2000.

3. After the development over the years of a broad set of legal provisions on substantive intellectual property law (including patents, trade marks, designs and copyright), the Commission is currently preparing a proposal for a directive harmonising the means of enforcing all types of intellectual property rights in the Union which should be adopted early in 2003. This initiative was announced in the Commission Communication entitled Follow-up to the Green Paper on combating counterfeiting and piracy in the single market of 30 November 2000(1).

Efforts must also be made to raise awareness among all those involved and to mobilise them in combating these phenomena, in particular through preventive measures upstream. For this reason the Commission intends to address this issue in the near future at a meeting of the forum on the prevention of organised crime.

(1) COM(2000) 789 final.