Intellectual Property Rights (Extracted from Report from the 3 March meeting of the Competititveness Council)

Brussels, 03 Mar 2003

The Council took note of the oral presentation by Commissioner Bolkestein of the proposal for a Directive on measures and procedures to ensure compliance with intellectual property rights. The Council welcomed this proposal as an important initiative in the fight against counterfeiting and piracy and instructed the competent Council bodies to begin examining the proposal as soon as possible.

It is recalled that the proposal submitted to the Council at the end of February 2003 aims at harmonising Member States' legislation concerning the enforcement of the various intellectual property rights across the EU with a view to enhancing the efficacy of the fight against counterfeiting and piracy. It also aims at establishing a general framework for the exchange of information between the responsible national authorities.

http://ue.eu.int/pressData/en/intm/74752 .pdf