In today’s world, the scope and scale of trade in fake products has become so wide and prevalent that it affects every sector of the economy and virtually all types
of products. And it creates serious problems for the health and safety of European citizens.

With the advent of new technologies, digitisation and globalisation, the trade in fake products has grown exponentially. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) estimated that, in 2007, the trade in counterfeit products alone is likely to have been around 250 billion dollars. That is more than the national GDPs of 150 individual countries!

These figures are alarming news for our economy. And ever more worrying, counterfeiters have moved to areas which affect our health and safety.
These days, pharmaceuticals, foodstuffs, household products, spare parts for cars, electronic devices or even for air planes are all being copied with no guarantee about the products used to make them. For counterfeiters, only the profit margin matters. And the profit margins are huge compared to the level of sanctions a counterfeiter faces if found out. This is one of the reasons why we have seen organised crime more and more involved in counterfeiting - generating massive amounts of unaccountable cash.

Most dangerous counterfeits are produced outside of the EU but there are many barriers which stop effective prosecution within Europe. It’s essential that we – the Commission,
Member States, the European Parliament, industry, consumer groups – work together on these issues and take action.

We already have some of the instruments we need in place but that’s not enough. The Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement Directive allows European industry to protect their rights in a homogenous way in all Member States. My experts are currently assessing its effectiveness.
And it is already clear that it needs to be further improved.
However, if we really want to put an end to counterfeiting, we will need much more than good laws. Firstly, one of our big problems is that we don’t have good enough information
on counterfeiting. So we need better data and intelligence. This will help us to make the right policy decisions and to better target our enforcement activities. We have just created the European Observatory on Counterfeiting and Piracy. This new body and its work will really help us to better assess the scope, scale and impact of counterfeiting in the Internal Market.
Secondy, consumers need to understand the risks associated with counterfeiting and piracy. At the moment, consumers often don’t realise the possible very real dangers for their health for example. The Observatory is working on this issue too to see how we can better inform consumers.
Thirdly, counterfeiters don’t stop at borders! And counterfeited products are moved all around Europe. We need to improve the flow of information between relevant authorities in different countries. And these authorities need to work better together.

One of the ideas we are looking at is the creation of an early warning system.
We can’t make progress without the support of industry. It has the expertise, knowledge and information. So it’s essential that the different industries also work together, and help find solutions. That is why the Commission is facilitating a dialogue on the sale of counterfeit products over the Internet. I am confident this can help us in our common fight against counterfeiting.
Intellectual property is one of Europe’s greatest assets. And the Commission has always strived to create a framework where creators and innovators are protected, both online and offline, across Europe, while at the same time taking account of wider public interest.

This framework allows our consumers to benefit from living in the most inventive region in the world.
But counterfeiting is undermining this. It threatens our businesses, our economies, our security and the health and safety of our citizens.
That is why we must pursue the work we have already started and put an end to counterfeiting.
It will not be easy, it will require a lot of effort and conviction, but it is clearly worth it – for businesses, for our creators, and of course, for consumers.

Michel BARNIER
Commissioner for Internal Market and Services