WRITTEN QUESTION No. 65/97 by Jaime VALDIVIELSO DE CUÉ to the Council. The effective management of products confiscated in line with rules on Community fraud
Date: 1997-01-24
Institutions: European Parliament, VALDIVIELSO DE CUE
Subjects: customs fraud, customs inspection, donation, intellectual property, marketing restriction, seizure of goods, trade-mark law, voluntary organisation













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91997E0065

WRITTEN QUESTION No. 65/97 by Jaime VALDIVIELSO DE CUÉ to the Council. The effective management of products confiscated in line with rules on Community fraud  


Official Journal C 319 , 18/10/1997 P. 0020 





WRITTEN QUESTION E-0065/97 by Jaime Valdivielso de Cué (PPE) to the Council (24 January 1997)Subject: The effective management of products confiscated in line with rules on Community fraudThe regulation on protecting trade marks and intellectual property rights has been in force for 7 years, and its scope has been extended to cover copyright, utility models and logos. Checks have been carried out by means of customs instruments enabling over 1 460 cases of fraud to be detected and proceedings to be instigated in three Member States.There does not appear to be any policy on tackling the problem of what to do with such confiscated products. For the time being, the solution is the systematic destruction of these products. This is both costly and ineffective.There are some rather poignant examples:60 000 leather footballs have been confiscated in Germany. Their destruction would entail high economic and environmental costs. Who is to pay such costs - the Commission or the Member State? Has the Council considered the possibility of donating these footballs to children of developing countries in receipt of humanitarian and food aid (such as the former Yugoslavia, Rwanda, Zaire, etc.)?33 000 packs of underwear have been confiscated in Spain. Cannot some imaginative use be made of these by donating them to charities or humanitarian organizations such as Caritas or the Red Cross?Would the Council consider the possibility of establishing some legal system for disposing of confiscated goods? Does it intend to draw up a regulation aimed at finding a use for these goods?Answer (16 May 1997)The customs checks to which the Honourable Member refers are based on Regulation No 3295/94 laying down measures to prohibit the release for free circulation, export, re-export or entry for a suspensive procedure of counterfeit and pirated goods. The Regulation extends the scope of action by the customs authorities to all intellectual property rights except patents.Article 8 provides that "Member States shall adopt the measures necessary to allow the competent authorities:(a) as a general rule, and in accordance with the relevant provisions of national law, to destroy goods found to be counterfeit ... or dispose of them outside commercial channels ...(b) to take ... any other measures which effectively deprive the persons concerned of the economic benefits of the transaction.¨The manner in which the Member States destroy counterfeit goods or dispose of them outside commercial channels is left to national law. Once the goods have been withdrawn from economic channels, there is nothing to stop the competent authorities from offering them to charitable organizations.