Brussels, March 1, 1999
IFPI, representing the international recording
industry, joined a broad-based coalition of copyright industries in Europe
today in calling on the EU to draw up pan-European measures to stop the rapid
spread of piracy and counterfeiting of audiovisual, music and leisure and
business software across the continent.
Leaders of Europe's software, music and audiovisual sectors, which are
estimated to lose some 4 billion euros from piracy annually, tabled a 4-point
Action Plan aimed at mobilizing the EU for the first time in a unified
offensive against piracy. The Plan will be discussed at a hearing of EU,
national government and industry representatives in Munich on March 2-3. aimed
at expanding the EU's role in fighting piracy.
The copyright industries' Action Plan is drawn from submissions of major
European copyright sectors in response to the Commission's recently-published
Green Paper on Combating Piracy and Counterfeiting in the Single Market. The
trade organizations BSA, IFPI, MPA, IVF and ISFE, representing respectively
business software, music, films, videos and leisure software, presented the
plan at a press conference in Brussels today. The key points are:
- Coordination at European Level. The Commission should set up a new programme
dedicated to combating piracy in Europe. There must be increased cooperation
between the law enforcement agencies of EU Member States, and the Commission
should work proactively to bring this about.
The remit of UCLAF, the EU's
anti-fraud office, should be extended to deal with piracy inside the EU and
co-ordinate cross border investigations, Special EU-level units should
co-ordinate exchange of information, and databases; monitor piracy levels and
case statistics in and outside the EU; propose reforms or new legislation; and
initiate trade actions against third countries.
- Stronger Damages and Penalties. The Commission and Member States must
strengthen enforcement in the EU, if necessary by proposing legislation to
harmonize criminal penalties at a high level which treats copyright theft on a
par with other forms of theft. Enforcement in EU Member States should be more
strictly vetted against standards required under the WTO Trips agreement.
- CD Plant Regulation. EU action is needed, by legislative measures if
necessary to regulate the manufacture of optical discs through registration
and licensing of plants and compulsory use by plants of unique identification
codes such as the Source Identification (SID) Code.
- EU Accession and Foreign Relations Priority. The Commission should make
enforcement of European intellectual property rights a key criterion in the
accession negotiations and in its trade relations with third countries. There
should be an annual audit of enforcement among the EU's trading partners. In
particular, piracy enforcement should be a higher priority in the six
front-line countries for accession, where domestic piracy levels are well
above the EU average.
IFPI represents more than 1,300 record producers and distributors in over 70
countries. One of IFPI's principal functions is to carry out and co-ordinate
the fight against piracy of recorded music.
Piracy - An Economic Blight on Europe
Background Note on the proposed EU Anti-Piracy Action Plan
Piracy is estimated to cost the software, audiovisual and music sectors more
than 4 billion Euros in losses annually in Europe. Piracy damages businesses,
causes losses to the European economies and slows down the creation of jobs.
The call for a new pan-European Action Plan reflects the rapidly changing face
of optical disc and software piracy. Within the last five years, advances in
technologies available to pirates, falling production costs and the ease of
transporting huge shipments of discs across borders or on computer networks,
have turned piracy into a large-scale international criminal business.
Copyright industries commit huge and growing resources to their anti-piracy
operations in Europe and worldwide. They now need support from the European
Union. Pirate businesses are today reaping the benefits of the open borders
of the Single Market; cooperation among national enforcement authorities has
not kept pace, and now needs radically improving.
Adequate remedies, procedures and penalties need to be put in place at a
Community level to reduce piracy havens, promote trade in the single market
and rid Europe of the economic blight of counterfeiting and piracy. The
music, film and software industries need higher and strongly enforced
penalties for their development, as well as improved enforcement procedures
and faster judicial processes. It is also essential that CD manufacturing is
regulated throughout the Single Market in a way that minimizes the risk of
pirate manufacturing taking place, while creating no unnecessary obstacles to
legitimate commerce.
The initiative also highlights growing piracy problems within the EU, and not
merely in third countries. According to estimates in the Green Paper
submissions, more than one in three business software programmes in Europe is
illegal. Furthermore, illegal manufacturing of audio and other CDs has risen
to some 100 million units per year in western Europe, according to independent
experts.
The Action Plan also calls for EU measures commensurate with the growing
involvement in piracy of organized crime. Criminal networks operating between
countries and continents make effective anti-piracy enforcement impossible
unless there is a new trans-regional approach. In Europe, investigations by
national enforcement agencies and jurisdictions are hampered by the lack of a
harmonised approach. Disparities in criminal penalties create havens of poor
enforcement from where pirate businesses can operate throughout the Union.
In the EU's relations with third countries, and in particular in the accession
negotiations, piracy needs to be made a higher priority. Domestic piracy
estimates in the east and central European first wave accession countries are
as follows:
| Piracy Rate | Music | Business Software | Video |
| Hungary | 27% | 58% | 40% |
| Poland | 40% | 61% | 25% |
| Estonia | 85% | 92% | 85% |
| Slovenia | 10-25% | 76% | 35% |
| Czech Republic | 10% | 66% | 35% |