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N. 33, May - June 2007
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 | Editorial
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Ensuring fair trade in ideas
Peter Mandelson
EU Commissioner for Trade
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One of the reasons Europe has maintained its global market share
over the last decade is the ability of EU companies to sell products at premium
price. Innovation, invention and creativity are the added value. That’s
our comparative advantage. It lies behind every European premium innovative
product, whether it’s a fashion shoe, a solar panel using new
environmental technology, a semiconductor or even Champagne.
But, every day – at a rate for which the only certainty is
that it is rising every year – those ideas are being stolen.
Twenty years ago, counterfeiting might have been regarded as a
problem chiefly for the makers of expensive handbags. Most people’s
exposure to counterfeiting was a cheap polo shirt or a "Gucci" watch that
probably stopped by the time they got home.
But this is no longer only about clothes and watches. The man
selling the Lacoste t-shirt is now part of a multi-billion dollar black economy
with a suitcase full of fake foodstuffs and drinks, fake car parts, fake
airplane parts, electrical appliances and toys. This suitcase grown by 1000% in
the last ten years, and its contents are far more dangerous.
In 2004, 800,000 doses of fake medicine were seized at EU borders.
Most of those fake drugs were headed for the world’s poorest countries.
So what are we doing about it? Over the last year, the Commission
conducted an extensive consultation with EU businesses to get a sense of where
the problem is focussed and where we need to focus our activities.
It confirmed what we pretty much knew already, which is that about
two thirds of counterfeit goods intercepted on their way into the EU are made
in China. We have also identified Russia, the Ukraine, Turkey, several ASEAN
and Mercosur countries, and Chile as priorities.
Some of these countries have made commitments to the EU to improve
protection of IPR. Many of them are fully aware of the problem, and
we’re working with them. But we will push harder where necessary to get
commitments fulfilled and rules enforced, including the possibility of
exercising the right to seek redress through the WTO.
We’ve teamed up with the U.S. this year to create joint task
forces in our offices overseas, and to have customs services work together.
We’ve been strengthening our resources in some of these
countries to help EU businesses find reliable suppliers, spot the risks of IP
theft and deal with the domestic authorities. In China, Russia and the Ukraine
we have implemented mechanisms between right holders and the competent
enforcement authorities so problems can be addressed directly.
We’ve also been co-operating with governments in China, ASEAN
and the Balkans, providing technical assistance and pursuing joint efforts to
improve protection on the ground.
Europe is facing stiffer global competition than ever before.
We’re right to accept the comparative advantages of the emerging
economies in labour and production costs – that is tough competition,
but it is fair competition. But Europe can also ask that its own comparative
advantages – and the rules countries have agreed to – are
respected in turn. The trade in ideas – like any other trade –
must be fair trade.
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