Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-11-25-Speech-4-058"
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"en.20101125.5.4-058"2
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"Madam President, Commissioner, the two block exemption regulations, one of which refers to specialisation agreements and the other to research and development, will expire on 31 December of this year. The Commission has drawn up two legislative proposals: two proposals for regulations that are before this House to replace the regulations that are now coming to an end.
A lot of water has flowed under the bridge since the initial regulations were adopted. There have been significant changes in legislation, especially the 2003 modernisation package, crucial legal judgments have been passed in this area and the Commission has learnt quite a lot from practice, which is also an important aspect.
The Commission opened two rounds of consultations with those concerned, which is good practice in the spirit of legislating well and having public support. The big question now is as follows: what use is it going to make of the responses from those concerned during the consultation? Is it going to take notice of them or are these opinions simply going to be thrown in the bin? In this context, what Parliament and the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs want to know is essentially six things. What are the suggestions and specific ideas that the stakeholders have put forward that the Commission is going to take into account when it comes to designing and defining these regulations and taking them from ‘the muses to the theatre’?
Secondly, what does the Commission think about the horizontal agreements that are not covered by the exemption regulations on specialisation or research and development. What did the stakeholders say in this round of consultations? What would be the advantages from the point of view of industry, the real economy and protecting competition, of proposing new regulations to take into account horizontal agreements that are not covered by the two block exemption regulations that we are currently considering? Does the Commission intend to draw up new regulations to cover them? Yes or no? The question is relatively clear.
The third problem that was debated at length in the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs is the subject of what is known as ‘patent ambush’, which, as the Commissioner is aware, takes place when one of the stakeholder companies that is participating in establishing standards withholds information on the patents that it holds or the patents that it is planning to register in future. This causes serious damage and inconvenience to those companies that are unaware of that information and commit to acting according to the parameters established.
The question here is relatively specific as this is a case of distortion of competition and barriers in the internal market, which is the cardinal sin in our institution: does the Commission intend to tackle the problem of ‘patent ambush’ in the framework of the new draft regulations, or otherwise, does it consider that complementary sector-specific legislation would be necessary to avoid abuse of patent rights? Is the Commission committed to ensuring that there is an integrated, consistent legislative framework without internal contradictions between competition rules and sector-specific legislation in the area of intellectual property rights?
The fourth and fifth questions relate to economic governance or, if you prefer, governance of competition. We have learnt that we need to try to converge with other competition authorities and, in this respect, it is important to know to what extent the Commission, in drawing up these regulations, has made use of court decisions and the decisions of national and international authorities.
The last question refers to a subject that is a particularly sensitive one for my committee, and I am sure that Mr Schwab will have something to say about it. It refers to the marketing chain for food products. It seems obvious that there is inequality in conditions among producers, between farmers, on the one hand, and large chains, on the other. Does the Commission intend to do something to guarantee equal, fair treatment for the weaker party in this contract? These are the questions, Commissioner, that I would like to you to answer as fully, clearly and precisely as possible."@en1
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