Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-03-09-Speech-2-026"
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"en.20040309.3.2-026"2
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".
Mr President, this proposal for a directive on the enforcement of intellectual property rights represents one of the main elements of a Commission action plan of November 2000 to combat counterfeiting and piracy, and complements the recent customs regulation.
Counterfeiting and piracy are on the rise. They harm business, society and governments, as they are detrimental to innovation and creativity and can be very dangerous to public health and safety. Counterfeiters and pirates undermine legitimate business and culture as they copy end products that have involved considerable investment. Consumers and rights-holders are not the only ones to suffer. Member States are deprived of considerable amounts in lost taxation, and employment suffers when the business world is not flourishing. There is also a genuine threat to public order. Counterfeiting and piracy carried out on a commercial scale are nowadays believed to be even more attractive than drug trafficking, and its perpetrators are linked more and more to large-scale organised crime.
This proposed directive is the Community's answer to this threat. It is not an easy proposal since it touches upon issues which involve many interests, sectors and different ministries in Member States, for instance culture, trade and industry, economy and justice. There has been some very sensitive, sometimes emotional, lobbying both for and against this directive, and I appreciate the sense of responsibility that Parliament has shown in the face of this pressure. However, the need for action is clear and not in dispute.
The Commission believes that, with the text agreed by Coreper on 16 February, we have reached the right moment for a positive decision. The compromise text constitutes an appropriate balance among all interests involved, including rights-holders, commercial users, consumers and intermediaries. This balance has been achieved in a different way from that in the Commission proposal, but it has been achieved. The proposal constitutes a considerable degree of harmonisation and it will provide us with an effective level playing field on sanctions and remedies. This will be essential for creating a business environment where legal players are not disturbed by counterfeiters and pirates.
This fulfils the commitments made by both the Commission and the European Parliament in a communication of November 2000, which resulted from consultations carried out in the context of a Green Paper in 1998. It also contributes to the achievement of the Lisbon agenda.
In view of the safeguarding of the necessary balance and effectiveness of this proposal, the Commission supports the text on the table today, as proposed via the compromise amendments jointly tabled by four political groups. The compromise text is thus the result of joint and very intensive efforts from all three institutions.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank the European Parliament as a whole for the interest it has shown in this important piece of legislation and its very constructive contributions, many of which can be found in the text before us today. In particular, I would like to thank the very competent rapporteur, Mrs Fourtou, the shadow rapporteur, Mrs McCarthy, and the chairman of the Committee on Industry, External Trade, Research and Energy, Mr Berenguer Fuster, for their very professional and efficient guidance within their institution.
Both the Committee on Industry, and the Committee on Legal Affairs and the Internal Market have given the issues at stake great thought, the fruit of which now lies before us in the form of amendments to be voted in this plenary. Consequently, the Commission endorses the amendments that go along the lines of the agreed compromise text: Amendments Nos 1 to 52 and 56 to 100. Amendments Nos 53 to 55 and 103 to 113 deviate from the text and must be rejected. The Commission feels that these amendments would not contribute to the balance and effectiveness that has been achieved in the compromise and, in particular, would not be in conformity with the horizontal approach. The directive should apply to infringements of all intellectual property rights.
In recognition of the harmful nature of counterfeiting and piracy, time should not be lost. The Commission would encourage the European Parliament to vote favourably on the Council compromise text so as to avoid any delay that would otherwise arise and would only serve the purpose of those trying to profit from illegal practices. Time will not improve this text."@en1
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