WRITTEN QUESTION E-1817/01

by Giovanni Pittella (PSE) to the Commission

(21 June 2001)

Subject: Protection of stamps of origin

Counterfeiting and pirating of products are a recurrent danger in the world trade system. The trade in products with fake stamps of origin accounts for between 5 % and 7 % of world trade and is worth between 200 billion and 300 billion. Large quantities of semi-processed or finished products flood into European territory from Middle Eastern markets and are subsequently passed off as European products. The problem arises primarily because some Member States have commercial policies based on high volumes of trade and flexible checks, making it easy to import finished or semi-processed products without a stamp of origin. Once they have been released on to the European market, these goods compete with products made entirely in Europe, giving rise to unfair competition. Their low cost is very often due to the fact that they have been made by child labour.

What steps will the Commission take to avert the problem referred to above?

Answer given by Mr Bolkestein on behalf of the Commission

(3 September 2001)

To combat infringements of intellectual property rights at the EU's external borders, the Council adopted Council Regulation (EC) 3295/94 of 22 December 1994 laying down measures to prohibit the release for free circulation, export, re-export or entry for a suspensive procedure of counterfeit and pirated goods(1). It was amended by Council Regulation (EC) 241/1999 of 25 January 1999(2) in order to widen its scope to enable customs authorities to intervene even before the goods have cleared customs. They can now carry out checks as soon as the goods are in customs custody (in bonded warehouses before customs clearance, docked vessels, transhipment, free zones, free warehouses, etc.). Regulation (EC) 241/1999 also extends the powers of customs administrations to protect intellectual property rights by including patents and complementary protection certificates.

The results recorded by the EU customs administrations for the year 2000 are proof that combating counterfeiting and piracy and improving administrative control are taken very seriously. Nearly 68 million counterfeited or pirated items were intercepted in 2000, up by 168 % on 1999.

Rights holders can guard themselves against this scourge by applying to the customs authorities for intervention. This application means rights holders can warn the authorities that their goods are under threat, give them the technical specifications of the goods and provide a contact person within the firm. The customs units at the EU's external borders can then start checking the loads they suspect to be infringing the holder's rights. This procedure is straightforward, cheap and efficient, but it is not being used enough: in the year 2000, only 981 applications for intervention were submitted altogether.

On the single market front, the Commission adopted a communication on 30 November 2000 entitled Follow-up to the Green Paper on combating counterfeiting and piracy in the single market(3). Among the initiatives proposed in this action plan, there is a proposal for a Directive which will be presented in early 2002, aimed at harmonising the Member States' legislation on the means for enforcing intellectual property rights.

However, none of these measures as they stand apply to goods bearing fake origin markings or none at all. Moreover, there are no harmonised EU rules

on origin marking for goods marketed in the EU; this is subject to the Member States' national rules. Neither is there a consensus among the EU business community on making origin marking compulsory, which would have to apply both to imported goods and to goods manufactured in the EU.

(1) OJ L 341, 30.12.1994.

(2) OJ L 27, 2.2.1999.

(3) COM(2000) 789 final.