CELEX: 51985PC0809
Language: en
Date: 1985-12-23
Title: AMENDMENT TO THE PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL REGULATION (EEC) LAYING DOWN MEASURES TO DISCOURAGE THE RELEASE FOR FREE CIRCULATION OF COUNTERFEIT GOODS

No C 356/30                         Official Journal of the European Communities                               31. 12. 85
        the social infrastructure, particularly child-care           economic and social policy, at Community and
        facilities, and adequate solutions for groups and            national level.
        persons in particular need,                              7. Decides to organize more systematic concertation
                                                                     of policies and actions with the Member States on
    — launch or stimulate wide-ranging information                   equal treatment, and requests the Commission to
        campaigns to increase awareness in a more sys-               organize such concertation with the cooperation of
        tematic way designed to highlight the positive               all the bodies concerned (mainly national authori-
        aspects of equality with a view to promoting a               ties, equal treatment bodies and committees, the
        change in attitudes, particularly by involving the           two sides of industry, etc.).
        media and by aiming at a variety of target groups
        in order to reach all those in political, social,        8. Requests the Commission to prepare a progress
        trade and educational circles.                               report and assessment of the implementation of this
                                                                     programme by 31 December 1990, and accordingly
                                                                      invites the Member States to forward the necessary
6. Undertakes to ensure coherence between specific                    information to the Commission before 1 January
    actions to promote equal opportunities and overall                1990.
             Amendment to the proposal for a Council Regulation laying down measures to discourage
                                 the release for free circulation of counterfeit goods (*)
                                                    COM (85) 809 final
                   (Submitted by the Commission to the Council pursuant to the second paragraph of
                                  Article 149 of the EEC Treaty on 20 December 1985)
                                                       (85/C 356/07)
The Commission amends its proposal as follows:                   is taken by the customs authorities pursuant to this
                                                                 Regulation are subsequently shown not to be counter-
After second recital add a new recital:                          feit.
'Whereas the laws concerning industrial property lay             The applicant may also be required to pay a sum
down the rights of holders of registered trade marks, it         to cover the administrative costs resulting from the
is desirable that an appropriate customs procedure               application.'
should be established to facilitate the exercise of these
rights in the case of counterfeit goods entering the             Article 4 — new wording
Community from third countries;'
                                                                 '1.     Where a customs office to which an application
Article 1 (2) — new wording:                                     has been transmitted pursuant to Article 3 establishes
                                                                 that goods entered for free circulation correspond to
'2.    For the purpose of this Regulation, "counterfeit          the description of the counterfeit goods contained in
goods" means any goods bearing without authorization             that application, it shall suspend thereof, and inform
an identical trade mark or one which cannot be dis-              the importer accordingly. The customs office shall also
tinguished in its essential aspects from a trade mark            immediately inform the applicant (the trade-mark own-
registered in respect of such goods in accordance with           er or his representative) of the measure.
Community law or the law of the Member State in
which the goods are entered for free circulation.'               The customs services may ask the applicant to confirm
                                                                 whether or not in his opinion the goods are counterfeit.
Article 2 (3) — new wording:                                     To this end the customs authorities may take samples
                                                                 of the goods and make these samples available to the
'3.    The customs authorities or the Commission,                trade-mark owner.
according to the circumstances, shall decide on the
application and inform the person concerned accord-              2.     Whether the goods are counterfeit shall be deter-
ingly. The applicant may be required to provide security         mined in accordance with Community law where it is
in an amount sufficient to indemnify the competent               applicable to the case in point, and where it is not, in
authorities or compensate the importer for any loss              accordance with the law of the Member State in the
or damage resulting from measures adopted by those
authorities where goods in relation to which action              (!) OJ No C 20, 22. 1. 1985, p. 7.
 ---pagebreak--- 31. 12. 85                            Official Journal of the European Communities                           No C 356/31
territory of which they were entered for free circulation.       soon as sufficient evidence is presented to the customs
The criteria applied to establish whether the goods             office showing that it has been conclusively established
infringe the rights of the trade-mark owner shall be             that the goods are not counterfeit.'
the same as those used to determine whether goods
produced in that Member State infringe these same                Article 5(1) — new recital:
rights. Decisions taken by the competent authority shall
set out the grounds on which they are based.                     '1.    Without prejudice to the other remedies to which
                                                                 the proprietor of a registered trade mark, whose trade
                                                                 mark has been found to be infringed is entitled, Member
3.     Release of the goods shall be suspended until it          States shall adopt the measures necessary to allow the
 is conclusively established whether or not they are             competent authorities to confiscate goods, the release
counterfeit. The applicant or the relevant authority             of which has been suspended pursuant to Article 4,
 shall initiate proceedings before the competent authori-        where it is established that they are counterfeit.
 ty so seek a final decision, preceded where necessary by
                                                                 Confiscated goods shall be destroyed or disposed of
 an interim decision as to whether or not the suspension
 should be confirmed. If within 10 working days of the           outside the channels of commerce in a manner which
 suspension of the release neither the applicant nor the         minimizes harm to the trade-mark owner.'
 relevant authority initiates such proceedings, the goods
 shall be released provided all the import formalities           Article 8 — new recital of paragraph 3:
 have been complied with.
                                                                 '3.    Within three years of the entry into force of
                                                                 this Regulation, the Commission shall report to the
                                                                 European Parliament and the Council on the operation
 4.    Provided that all other import formalities have           of the system instituted thereunder and such amend-
 been complied with, release shall also be granted as            ments as need to be made thereto.'
                        Proposal for a Council Regulation laying down the provisions applicable to
                                 goods brought into the customs territory of the Community
                                                    COM (85) 766 final
                                                       (85/C 356/08)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,                         Whereas the rules to which goods brought into the
                                                                 customs territory of the Community are subject, until
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European            they are assigned a customs-approved treatment or use,
Economic Community, and in particular Article 235                are fundamental to the proper operation of the customs
thereof,                                                         union; whereas it is therefore important to ensure that
                                                                 they are applied, to the greatest possible extent, uni-
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,              formly throughout the Community; whereas to that
                                                                end Directive 68/312/EEC should be replaced by a
Having regard to the opinion of the European Parlia-            Regulation incorporating all the necessary clarifications
ment,                                                           and amendments; whereas this will afford individuals
                                                                a greater degree of legal certainty;
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and
Social Committee,
                                                                Whereas goods brought into the customs territory of
Whereas Council Directive 68/312/EEC of 30 July 1968            the Community must be made subject to appropriate
on harmonization of the provisions laid down by law,            customs supervision so as to ensure that the customs
regulation or administrative action relating to:                rules, and any other rules applicable to them, are com-
                                                                plied with;
 1. customs treatment of goods entering the customs
     territory of the Community,
                                                                Whereas to that end, the obligations incumbent on
2. temporary storage of such goods (*),                         persons who bring goods into the customs territory
                                                                of the Community and on persons who subsequently
as last amended by the Act of Accession of Spain and            assume responsibility for those goods in order to move
Portugal, laid down certain principles to be complied           or store them until they are assigned a customs-
with in this field;                                             approved treatment or use, should be defined; whereas
                                                                the substance of those obligations must Be specified in
(J) OJ No L 194, 6. 8. 1968, p. 13.                             detail in respect of each of the stages reached by goods