European Parliament resolution on the Commission staff working paper on the problem of the exhaustion of trade mark rights  (SEC(1999)2033 - C5-0354/2000 - 2000/2187(COS))
Date: 2001-10-03
Institutions: European Parliament
Subjects: brand name, competition, document, trade mark, trade-mark law

C 87 E/148

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

11.4.2002

Wednesday 3 October 2001

Proposes that indicators for e-learning and the relationship between education and innovation

32.
should be added to the list of innovation indicators;

Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission and to the govern-

33.
ments and parliaments of the Member States.

12. Exhaustion of trade mark rights

A5-0311/2001

European Parliament resolution on the Commission staff working paper on the problem of the
exhaustion of trade mark rights (SEC(1999) 2033 % C5-0354/2000 % 2000/2187(COS))

The European Parliament,

  having regard to the Commission staff working paper (SEC(1999) 2033   C5-0354/2000),

  having regard to Council Directive 89/104/EEC of 21 December 1988 to approximate the laws of the
Member States relating to trade marks (1) and Council Regulation (EC) No 40/94 of 20 December
1993 on the Community trade mark (2), and in particular Articles 7 and 13 thereof (3),

  having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee of 24 January 2001 on the

‘Exhaustion of registered trademark rights’ (4),

  having regard to the Commission’s decision of 24 May 2000 not to submit any proposals to alter the

current system of Community-wide exhaustion,

  having regard to Rule 47(1) of its Rules of Procedure,

  having regard to the report of the Committee on Legal Affairs and the Internal Market (A5-0311/

2001),

A. whereas the principle of national exhaustion originally applied in several Member States of the Euro-

pean Community,

B. whereas in 1974 the European Court of Justice in respect of these countries extended national exhaus-
tion to Community-wide exhaustion, giving the following reasons:
‘In fact, if a trade mark owner
could prevent the import of protected products marketed by him or with his consent in another
Member State, he would be able to partition off national markets and thereby restrict trade between
Member States, in a situation where no such restriction was necessary to guarantee the essence of the
exclusive right flowing from the trade mark’ (5),

C. whereas the transition from national to Community-wide exhaustion led to greater competition,

D. whereas in several Member States the principle of international exhaustion applied before Directive

89/104/EEC came into force,

(1) OJ L 40, 11.2.1989, p. 1, last amended by Council Decision 92/10/EEC of 19 December 1991, OJ L 6, 11.1.1992,

p. 35.

(2) OJ L 11, 14.1.1994, p. 1, last amended by Council Regulation (EC) No 3288/94 of 22 December 1994, OJ L 349,

31.12.1994, p. 83.

(3) Exhaustion of the rights conferred by a Community trade mark: 1. A Community trade mark shall not entitle the
proprietor to prohibit its use in relation to goods which have been put on the market in the Community under that
trade mark by the proprietor or with his consent; 2. Paragraph 1 shall not apply where there exist legitimate reasons
for the proprietor to oppose further commercialisation of the goods, especially where the condition of the goods is
changed or impaired after they have been put on the market.

(4) OJ C 123, 25.4.2001, p. 28.
(5) Paragraph 11 of the Judgment of 31 October 1974 in Case 16/74, Centrafarm v. Winthrop [1974] ECR 1183.

11.4.2002

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Official Journal of the European Communities

C 87 E/149

Wednesday 3 October 2001

1.

On the grounds of the above considerations and findings, calls on the Commission:

  to produce a detailed study of the implications of a possible transition to the principle of international

exhaustion for European manufacturers and consumers as well as for jobs;

  to present a report on any cases of abuse of trade mark rights notified to the Commission, to explain
how such cases of abuse have been addressed, including with regard to competition rules, and to
identify possible deficiencies that may exist in current legal provision;

  to examine the legal situation with regard to the exhaustion of trade mark rights in the most import-

ant trading nations;

  to ascertain the prospects for the conclusion of an international agreement on harmonised rules on

exhaustion of trade mark rights under the WTO or WIPO;

  in the light of the most recent rulings by the Court of Justice, to examine the need for clarification of
Directive 89/104/EEC, and in particular Article 7 thereof, in order to achieve a higher degree of legal
certainty and legal clarity regarding the restrictions applying under competition law in respect of trade
mark law, which is necessary above all for SMEs and consumers;

  to examine whether clarification of trade mark law in respect of non-commercial imports of goods

purchased by consumers via the Internet is needed;

  to submit to Parliament, by 31 December 2002, a report on these points containing detailed pro-

posals;

Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission and the govern-

2.
ments of the Member States.

13. Conclusions of the UN Conference on racism

B5-0605, 0606, 0607, 0609 and 0610/2001

European Parliament resolution on the World Conference against Racism in Durban

The European Parliament,

  having regard to Articles 6, 7 and 29 of the Treaty on European Union and Article 13 of the EC
Treaty, which commit the European Union and its Member States to observe high standards of
human rights and non-discrimination, and to the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European
Union,

  having regard to the 1965 International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Dis-
crimination, the 1995 Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities and the Euro-
pean Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms,

  having regard to Council Directive 2000/43/EC of 29 June 2000 implementing equal treatment

between persons irrespective of racial or ethnic origin (1),

  having regard to the EU’s preparations for the World Conference, in particular the European Parlia-
ment resolution of 5 July 2001 on human rights in the world (2) containing its recommendation on
the European Union’s position at the World Conference,

  having regard to the declaration adopted by the European Preparatory Conference ‘All Different-All

Equal’ in Strasbourg on 13 October 2000,

  having regard to the framework agreement of 5 July 2000 on relations between the European Parlia-

ment and the Commission (3),

(1) OJ L 180, 19.7.2000, p. 22.
(2)
‘Texts Adopted’, Item 13.
(3) OJ C 121, 24.4.2001, p. 122.