Annexes to COM(2018)77 - Report on the implementation of the EU customs Action Plan to combat IPR infringements for the years 2013/2017 - Main contents
Please note
This page contains a limited version of this dossier in the EU Monitor.
| dossier | COM(2018)77 - Report on the implementation of the EU customs Action Plan to combat IPR infringements for the years 2013/2017. |
|---|---|
| document | COM(2018)77  |
| date | February 22, 2018 |
Combatting counterfeiting and customs enforcement of IPR has also been one of the priorities in the ASEM context.
The Commission and Member State Customs administrations have been present in a number of international events to spread knowledge about the new EU Regulation and the Customs Action Plan, as well as to gain knowledge on the global situation in IPR enforcement, such as:
- the 7th Global Congress on combating Counterfeit and Piracy (Istanbul, 2013);
- the Conference on Jointly Building Resilient EU Responses to Counterfeiting in Dublin (2013);
- the International IP Enforcement Summit, which took place in London in 2014 at the initiative of the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market, the Commission and the UK Intellectual Property Office (Cf.4.1 Establishing a partnership with the European Observatory on infringements of IPRs); the second edition of this event was co-organised by the German Ministry of Justice and consumer protection and the EUIPO in Berlin in 2017.
3.2 Building capacity in candidate and neighbouring countries on IPR enforcement
Member States took part in many actions targeting candidate and neighbouring countries within the framework of the EU technical assistance project or the TAIEX programme (which enabled either study visits from experts of the candidate and neighbouring countries on IPR enforcement to EU countries, or the deployment of EU experts to candidate and neighbouring countries via twinning projects).
The Commission participated, together with experts from Germany and Croatia, in a seminar organised in Serbia (2013) by the European Institute of Public Administration (EIPA), dedicated to customs aspects of IPR infringements and control at the border.
The European Union Border Assistance Mission to Moldova and Ukraine (EUBAM) – organised a meeting in Moldova to present Regulation (EU) No 608/2013 (April 2014).
The Commission also took the occasion of the IPR workshop for Euro-Med countries dedicated to the fight against Piracy and Counterfeiting (Brussels, 2013) and of the high-level seminar on Customs Cooperation at the Eastern Border of the EU (Lithuania, 2013) to raise awareness of the neighbouring countries on the importance of having a robust procedure in place to ensure an efficient customs enforcement of IPR at the border.
The effects of the EU’s efforts to build capacity in neighbouring countries on IPR enforcement may have been hampered by the limited availability of experts on the EU side. This could warrant more attention in the future.
4 - Strengthening cooperation with the European Observatory on infringements of IPRs and law enforcement authorities
4.1 Establishing a partnership with the European Observatory on infringements of IPRs
The cooperation on the customs-related activities of the European Observatory on infringements of Intellectual Property Rights was further developed. In addition to being associated to the customs activities listed in the yearly work programme of the Observatory, the Commission was present in most relevant meetings of the Observatory, such as the plenary session, public stakeholder meetings and the working group meetings on enforcement issues, public awareness and statistics.
The Commission is also attending the newly created “Technical group”, set up at the initiative of the Observatory, which aims at mapping the existing EU databases playing a role in IPR enforcement, describing their content and identifying the ideal way of transmission for the exchange of information/data between them. The Technical group will thus contribute to paving the way to a reinforcement of cooperation between authorities.
The Commission and some customs administrations also participated together with police and judicial authorities in ad-hoc events such as the OHIM/Europol “Knowledge and Awareness Building Conference on infringements of intellectual property rights on the internet” (November 2014).
The Observatory is regularly invited to attend the meetings of the Customs expert group on IPR enforcement in order to ensure coordination of common customs-related activities.
Agreement has been reached to provide access to customs authorities to the Observatory Enforcement Data Base (EDB) via the CCN/CSI network. EDB is built on existing IP databases of the OHIM/EUIPO such as TM view (Trade Mark view), Designview and CESTO (Common support tool for examiners). By consulting EDB, customs authorities can find updated information on the validity of rights or search for the right-holder in case of ex-officio detentions.
Throughout the COPIS project, requests have been made for COPIS to allow for the electronic submission of AFAs. As the EDB contains relevant information for the submission of AFAs, that database has been considered as the most suitable source for the delivery of the required AFA information in an electronic format. Further to contacts between the Commission and the European Observatory on IPR infringements, a proposal to implement the functionality of the 'pre-AFA' within COPIS has been developed to ease the work of both the applicants and the customs authorities.
The operational connection between COPIS and EDB is in place since 1 July 2015. A User Guide and other additional information have been made available via the national Common Communication Network (CCN) coordinators.
2016 saw the first AFA sent electronically through the tool and in 2017 several major companies have begun to use EDB for the filing of their national and Union AFAs.
For the applicant, this connection will reduce the burden of multiple submissions of information, and for customs authorities, the data capture of paper AFAs.
4.2 Improving mutual understanding and cooperation between customs, police and judicial authorities
In 2013, the Commission and some Member State customs administrations participated in various OHIM/Europol events together with police and judicial authorities, such as the knowledge-building seminars on fake pesticides and medicines (dealing both with IPR and product safety) and the Interpol International Law Enforcement IP Crime Conference.
The Observatory, the UK IP Office and the Commission co-organised an IP enforcement summit in London in June 2014. Part of this summit was dedicated to "IP enforcement challenges at the border", with workshops dedicated to small consignments as a result of Internet orders and the exploitation of intelligence. The discussion identified the following elements:
- the critical importance of receiving adequate information and sharing it with the police and other enforcement authorities;
- the growing need to cooperate and act internationally to tackle the international supply chains of counterfeit.
As a follow-up to the Summit, the Commission organised in February 2016 in cooperation with the OHIM/EUIPO a High-Level Conference on the cooperation between customs and other authorities in the fight against the infringements of IPR.
The event provided a platform for discussion, debate and networking between customs, police and judicial authorities to enhance co-operation and mutual understanding of the respective roles and responsibilities of each enforcement authority in the fight against IPR infringements. Representatives from the private sector also participated in the conference.
During the first day, discussion focused on the importance and benefits of exchanging information and intelligence between the enforcement authorities, the obstacles and challenges faced by each authority on a practical level, the necessity for timely communication exchanges from the private sector to the enforcement authorities, which would also help the enforcement authorities perform more effective risk analysis.
On the second day of the event, also attended by Chinese authorities, the value of fostering international collaboration between the EU and all Chinese authorities involved in IPR enforcement, such as Customs, Police and the People’s Prosecutor's office, was at the core of the debate.
Follow-up actions have been organised in cooperation with the European Observatory on infringements of IPR. They include a mapping of existing databases on infringements cases and a knowledge building event, which took place in October 2017 gathering, at an operational level, customs, police and market surveillance authorities in order to discuss on what is the key information amongst enforcers so as to tackle counterfeiting on an EU global scale.
CONCLUSION
Overall, Member State customs administrations and the Commission have deployed significant efforts and are working proactively to address the challenges associated with the customs enforcement of IPR and curb the influx of IPR infringing goods into the EU.
All means have been employed to make Regulation (EU) No 608/2013 known and used to its full potential by all public and private stakeholders concerned. The support visits have proved particularly useful for experts from different Member States to discuss implementation practices and for the Commission to gather a global implementation picture.
The number of AFAs granted by customs administrations has shown a steady rise (from 26 865 in 2013 to 35 815 in 2016).
Customs action came to the following results in terms of detentions.
| DETENTIONS | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 |
| Cases | 86 854 | 95 194 | 81 098 | 63 184 |
| Procedures | Not available | Not available | 105 488 | 77 705 |
| Articles | 39 917 445 | 35 940 294 | 35 568 982 | 41 387 132 |
| Domestic retail value | EUR 768 million | EUR 617 million | EUR 642 million | EUR 672 million |
Each detention is referred to as a case that may contain one or more articles. Each case may contain articles of different product categories and from different right-holders. In COPIS, Member States register each case with information per category of goods and per right-holder. For each category of goods and each right-holder a detention procedure will be initiated, which explains why there are more procedures than cases.
Cooperation was reinforced into three directions:
- with stakeholders;
- with the EU Observatory;
- with third countries.
The challenges of the cooperation between enforcement authorities engaged in the fight against IPR infringements have also been addressed and the dialogue established has shown how important it would be to pursue efforts in this regard.
The trafficking of IPR infringing goods remains however a widespread and ever increasing phenomenon. International trade in counterfeit products represents up to 2.5% of world trade, or as much as EUR 338 billion, based on the latest available data from 2013 7 . The impact of counterfeiting is particularly high in the European Union, with counterfeit and pirated products amounting up to 5% of imports, or as much as EUR 85 billion.
Further developments are necessary in order to:
- ensure a homogeneous IPR border enforcement throughout the Union;
- develop IPR risk management tools;
- strengthen customs cooperation with police (including Europol) and other enforcement authorities.
Further actions from the Commission and the Member States should focus on these priorities.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Infringements of IPR remain an increasing threat and a difficult challenge to address. Coordination of customs activities having shown its added value to reinforce results, the customs action plan to combat IPR infringements should certainly be re-conducted for the years to come.
On 29 November 2017 a comprehensive package of measures to further improve the application and enforcement of IPRs within the EU Member States, at EU borders and internationally has been adopted by the Commission. The Communication COM (2017)707 from 29 November 2017, entitled “A balanced IP enforcement system responding to today’s societal challenges”, which is part of the package, mentions that the Commission will offer a more targeted assistance to national customs authorities, based on the result of the current EU customs Action Plan, and will work with the Council towards a new Action Plan in 2018.
It is recommended that the following elements should be addressed in the future action plan:
On legislation:
● Modify Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1352/2013 of 4 December 2013 establishing the form provided for in Regulation (EU) No 608/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning customs enforcement of intellectual property rights (OJ L, 18.12.2016, p.10) to adapt it to the Trademark package and to developments in COPIS
On operational performance:
● Develop risk management on infringement of IPR
● Promote joint use of results of risk analysis, risk intelligence and customs operations by Member States
● Ensure adequate protection of datasets and databases, third party rights, privacy and confidentiality and safeguards to be adopted when creating, procuring and disseminating data
● Identify possible gaps in implementation of customs enforcement regulations
On business cooperation:
● Raise awareness of right-holders on the small consignment procedure
● Continue the yearly meeting of the common group Customs/stakeholders
On international cooperation:
● Continue cooperation with key partners such as China and Hong-Kong China
Strengthening coordination with EU agencies:
● EUIPO - EU Observatory
- Reinforce trends analysis
- Align IT developments, such as e-filing of AFA
● Europol
- Strengthen customs cooperation with police
(1)
2009/C 71/01 Council Resolution of 16 March 2009 on the EU Customs Action Plan to combat IPR infringements for the years 2009/2012.
(2)
2013/C 80/01 Council Resolution of 10 December 2012 on the EU Customs Action Plan to combat IPR infringements for the years 20013/2017.
(3)
Council Regulation (EU) No 608/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 June 2013 concerning customs enforcement of Intellectual property rights and repealing Council Regulation (EC) No 1383/2003 (OJ L 181, 29 June 2013, p. 15).
(4)
Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1352/2013 of 4 December 2013 establishing the form provided for in Regulation (EU) No 608/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning customs enforcement of intellectual property rights (OJ L, 18 December 2016, p. 10).
(5)
Enforcement Data Base (EDB) : a database developed by the European Observatory on IPR infringements to help law enforcement authorities to recognise counterfeit goods by enabling right holders to securely share with those authorities information on production and logistics.
(6)
Trade in Counterfeit and Pirated Goods: Mapping the Economic Impact, OECD/EUIPO (2016).
https://euipo.europa.eu/tunnelweb/secure/webdav/guest/document_library/observatory/documents/Mapping_the_Economic_Impact_study/Mapping_the_Economic_Impact_en.pdf
(7)
Trade in Counterfeit and Pirated Goods: Mapping the Economic Impact, OECD/EUIPO (2016).
https://euipo.europa.eu/tunnel-web/secure/webdav/guest/document_library/observatory/documents/Mapping_the_Economic_Impact_study/Mapping_the_Economic_Impact_en.pdf .