Commission takes measures to combat forgery and piracy
The European Commission has recently adopted a Green Paper on issues related to combating piracy and forgery within the single market, currently estimated to cause the loss of over 100,000 jobs annually in the EU. The issue of this Green Paper marks the launch of wide ranging consultations with all interested parties and relevant institutions within the EU. The aim is to determine the economic impact of forgery and piracy within the single market, to evaluate the effectiveness of existing legislation, and to propose alternative initiatives to improve the situation. These improvements relate in particular to four main areas: - The maintenance of surveillance activities in the private sector; - Technical devices for the security and authentication of legally protected products and services; - An evaluation of means to ensure enforcement of intellectual property laws; - The establishment of cooperation between the relevant national authorities charged with combating forgery and piracy. The consultation will run until March 1999 and will finish with a large meeting in Munich, Germany, from 2 to 3 October 1998, organised under the auspices of the German Presidency of the Council. The meeting will be open to all interested parties and will aim to clarify and develop the most important issues that have arisen during the course of the consultation.