Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-05-04-Speech-4-012"
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"en.20000504.2.4-012"2
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"Mr President, I want to congratulate Mrs Fourtou on this important report. It is important both in terms of the functioning of the single market and, most importantly, for the protection of consumers. It is right that we should focus on the way in which counterfeiting is growing between the Member States, within the single market, as well as beyond the frontiers of the European Union.
The consumer can be conned by counterfeiting in all circumstances very easily but it is always a menace. It is a menace because the counterfeit product carries none of the necessary guarantees of safety and quality which come from a product which the manufacturer can stand by and endorse. It can be dangerous to health. It can certainly be dangerous to innovation. It can be dangerous for the future of research. There is very little to be said for the counterfeiter except that, at best, he or she is a parasite upon productive industry.
This is not a victimless crime. We are talking about things that seriously damage the marketplace. For that reason, the Environment and Consumer Policy Committee takes much the same line as the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee in supporting and endorsing this report. Naturally the point we would wish to make in conclusion, however, is that in protection of the consumer, the provision of information must involve consumer organisations within the Member States themselves. They are best placed to pick up some of the worst scams which now prevail and inform the public that what may, at first sight, appear to be a bargain, is really a snare and delusion.
My second point has been touched upon by the previous speaker. It is this: there are those who would say that this debate embraces the debate about copyright and trademarks. These must be kept separate. A number of amendments from the political groups and the committees have tried to make this clear. There is a debate going on – and the Commissioner knows perfectly well about this – about parallel imports and whether these are now being used in some cases in a way which is damaging to trade, anti-competitive and against the interests of the consumer. We do not want to see these two debates confused. What we are attacking here in this proposal, and quite rightly, is those who, by the parasitic practice of counterfeiting, batten upon the public, confuse and deceive it and can sometimes actually damage society in the process."@en1
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