Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-12-11-Speech-2-412"

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"en.20071211.42.2-412"2
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". Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, after lengthy debate, the Committee on Legal Affairs came out in favour of complete liberalisation of the secondary market in visible spare parts. As we have just heard, the compromise that was reached in the Committee on Legal Affairs provides for a free market after a grace period of five years. I warmly welcome this step, although I personally consider the transitional period to be too long rather than too short. It is a long-overdue step. We have just heard from Mr Lehne that this issue has been under discussion for 17 years. Two and a half years ago, in 2005, as rapporteur for the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, I called for early liberalisation. Unfortunately, the original rapporteur for the lead committee, the Committee on Legal Affairs, kept delaying the process. I do not know whether he had some personal doubts about the point of the project or whether he was unable to resist the heavy pressure from vehicle manufacturers in his own federal state. Whatever the reason, it is irrational that we should have a single market for new vehicles but not for spare parts. Liberalisation of the aftermarket will strengthen competition, will tend to exert downward pressure on prices and will widen consumer choice. It will not hamper innovation; on the contrary, it could actually stimulate innovative activity, since vehicle manufacturers will try to design their products in such a way that makes them more difficult for independent parts manufacturers to reproduce. I naturally support the right to intellectual property and its protection – no doubt about that – but that right is no barrier to market liberalisation. There has, after all, been only one case in which a vehicle manufacturer has brought an action against another manufacturer for design-right infringement in the primary market, despite the fact that there have actually been some very striking similarities between models produced by different manufacturers. Small and medium-sized businesses will also benefit from liberalisation through new market opportunities, which ought to boost employment in the EU and provide substitutes for a number of imports. Lastly, individual consumers will henceforth be able to choose freely between several suppliers. I am sure they will be glad to have that opportunity."@en1

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