Council resolution of 25 September 2008 on a comprehensive European anti-counterfeiting and anti-piracy plan
Date: 2008-09-25
Institutions: Council of the European Union
Subjects: customs cooperation, exchange of information, fight against crime, illicit trade, industrial counterfeiting, intellectual property

4.10.2008

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 253/1

I

(Resolutions, recommendations and opinions)

RESOLUTIONS

COUNCIL

COUNCIL RESOLUTION

of 25 September 2008

on a comprehensive European anti-counterfeiting and anti-piracy plan

(2008/C 253/01)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

1. CONSIDERING the Commission's strategic report (1) and the
new cycle of the renewed Lisbon strategy for growth and
jobs (2008-2010) launched by the European Council on
14 March 2008.

2. STRESSING that the European Union has been called upon,
in this connection, to continue its efforts to make the
system for protecting intellectual property rights more effi-
cient in order to combat counterfeiting more effectively.

3. EMPHASISING the need to respect the basic freedoms of the

internal market and improve the way it works.

4. POINTING OUT the advisability, in the fight against counter-
feiting and piracy, particularly at
the
European Union, of harmonising intellectual property
rights, where appropriate, and the importance of existing
national and Community industrial property titles.

the borders of

5. CONSIDERING the Community instruments adopted to
combat counterfeiting and piracy, particularly Directive
2004/48/EC on the enforcement of intellectual property
rights and Regulation (EC) No 1383/2003 concerning
customs action against goods
infringing
certain intellectual property rights.

suspected of

6. AWARE also of the amended proposal for a Directive on
criminal measures aimed at ensuring the enforcement of
intellectual property rights.

7. CONSIDERING the anti-counterfeiting and anti-piracy initia-
tives which have been developed multilaterally, particularly
the World
in the World Trade Organisation (WTO),

(1) Communication from the Commission to the European Council ‘Stra-
tegic report on the renewed Lisbon Strategy for growth and jobs:
launching the new cycle (2008-2010) — Keeping up the pace of
change’ COM(2007) 803 final.

Customs Organisation (WCO), the World Intellectual Prop-
erty Organisation (WIPO), the Organisation for Economic
Cooperation and Development (OECD), the World Health
Organisation (WHO) and the G8 (Heiligendamm process).

8. CONSIDERING the Strategy for the Enforcement of Intellec-

tual Property Rights in Third Countries (2).

9. CONSIDERING the OECD report on the economic impact of
counterfeiting and piracy, particularly its estimate that inter-
national trade in counterfeit and pirated goods may have
been some USD 200 billion in 2005, on the basis of
customs seizures in OECD countries,
indicating that the
total value of trade in counterfeit or pirated products could
exceed this amount by several hundred billion dollars, and
considering its recommendations for increased cooperation
between governments and industry.

10. AWARE of the seriousness and the worrying growth of the
phenomenon of counterfeiting and piracy, in particular in a
globalised economy,
the
the
European Union,
for its businesses, creative forces and
consumers; aware of the scale of this phenomenon on the
Internet too; aware of the risks involved in counterfeiting
products, which poses a health and safety hazard.

competitiveness of

for

11. EMPHASISES

the

importance of protecting intellectual
to promoting
property rights, which are fundamental
culture and diversity, and for drawing full benefit from the
research,
innovation and creative activity of European
undertakings, especially SMEs, in order to support growth
and jobs in the European Union and make Europe more
competitive in the world.

(2) OJ C 129, 26.5.2005, p. 3.

C 253/2

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Official Journal of the European Union

4.10.2008

12. AWARE, against this background, of the need to give inno-
vative companies the means to obtain the best protection
for their inventions and to profit from them more effi-
ciently; points out the advantages of a Community patent
and a patent court system in order to give users the means
to enforce their intellectual property rights throughout the
Union.

the whole range of

13. EMPHASISES the need to mobilise all stakeholders to boost
the effectiveness of
instruments for
protecting intellectual property and combating counter-
feiting and piracy on the internal market and internation-
ally; pointing out that these measures are consistent with
due regard for basic rights and general principles of Com-
munity law, such as the protection of personal data and the
protection of property rights.

14. WELCOMES the Commission communication of 16 July
2008 designed to implement an industrial property rights
strategy for Europe, especially as regards the enforcement of
industrial property rights and of copyright and related
rights:

— customs initiatives to combat counterfeiting and piracy

at the borders and outside the European Union,

— action to complement legislation, designed to encourage
a change in public perceptions of the phenomenon of
counterfeiting and piracy, to increase precise awareness
of the phenomenon, to improve cooperation between
all stakeholders in the Member States, to establish an
administrative
effective
cooperation
between Member States,
to allow for Europe-wide
action, and to promote public/private partnership agree-
ments and the conclusion of inter-industry agreements
at European level
to reduce piracy and the sale of
counterfeit goods on the Internet,

network

for

— consideration of how cross-border enforcement of

judgements can be improved,

— action designed to enforce intellectual property rights in
third countries, through regular inquiries, through the
promotion of effective protection of
those rights in
bilateral trade agreements, and through closer coopera-
tion in the framework of regular dialogues with third
states, especially those with a high level of counter-
feiting and piracy,

— work on a plurilateral anti-counterfeiting trade agree-

ment (ACTA).

15.

INVITES the Commission to act on these guidelines by:

including financial arrangements,

— setting up a European counterfeiting and piracy obser-
vatory, defining how it is to operate and the detailed
for
arrangements,
setting it up; the observatory, based on the Commis-
sion's existing structures, should enable a regular assess-
ment to be made, on the basis of the data which the
public and private sectors wish to provide, of the extent
of counterfeiting and piracy and a more precise analysis
of these phenomena,

— disseminating information on the phenomenon of
counterfeiting
in
combating these phenomena, especially via the Internet,

and piracy

to those

involved

— developing action to raise awareness and to communi-
cate with those involved in combating counterfeiting
and piracy and with consumers, including the youngest
consumers, by, amongst other things, activities orga-
nised to mark a European awareness day on the dangers
of counterfeiting and by drawing up operational guides.

16.

INVITES the Commission and the Member States, acting
within their respective spheres of competence, to use all
appropriate means to combat counterfeiting and piracy
effectively, and in particular to:

— submit an anti-counterfeiting customs plan for

in particular at

the
years 2009 to 2012 which gives priority to informa-
tion-sharing through full use of electronic systems and
the development of cooperation between the authorities
concerned,
the border, principally
customs authorities, and with rights holders; to make a
survey of customs law and evaluate the improvements
framework to improve action
needed to the legal
against counterfeit products which are a danger to
consumers and to raise awareness of the risks of the
phenomenon,

— set up a network for the rapid exchange of information
on counterfeit products and services,
in particular by
stepping up cross-border administrative cooperation,
drawing on national contact points and modern infor-
mation-sharing tools,

— promote coordination between institutions involved in
combating counterfeiting and piracy,
in particular by
sharing good practice between national administrations,

— study the effectiveness of the legal framework in enfor-

cing intellectual property rights,

— submit appropriate proposals to encourage public/pri-
vate sector partnerships to combat counterfeiting and
to recommend good practice, especially as
piracy,
regards Internet sales, and to encourage professionals to
work together,

— step up the protection of intellectual property rights
internationally; promote the inclusion, in bilateral and
multilateral agreements concluded by the European
Union, of measures on intellectual property rights, with
due regard for the acquis communautaire, and help to
enforce those measures; take an active part in negotia-
tions for the conclusion of a plurilateral anti-counter-
feiting trade agreement, including by seeking to secure
the creation at such time of a task force with the remit
of
agreement;
promote the issue in dialogue between the European
Union and third countries and in the context of
cooperation activities with third countries.

scrutinising implementation of

the