Jérôme Chauvin, a director in the internal market department at BusinessEurope, has written to the European Commission to highlight key areas that it considers indispensable to accomplish the objectives of ACTA.
The ACTA proposal was launched in October last year by the USTR and is being negotiated by eight countries, plus the EU.
Details of the proposed agreement have not been published, but it is expected to be discussed at this month’s G8 meeting in Japan.
In the letter to Luc Devigne, the director responsible for ACTA in the European Commission’s trade department, Chauvin said: “Effective criminal enforcement measures should include deterrent fines and sentences, injunctive relieve and enhanced measures to allow right holders and law enforcement agencies to identify and take action against proceeds of crime.”
In addition, Chauvin said civil enforcement should provide damages “that compensate the right holder for damages suffered and deprive infringers of any profits from the infringement”.
Business Europe represents 40 industry groups from 34 countries in Europe and celebrated its 50th anniversary last year.
Calling for enhanced border measures, the letter proposes giving Customs the power to control goods on export and in transit and providing rights holders with information about the consignee, exporter and importer as well as details about the seized goods.
The letter urges international cooperation on anti-counterfeiting and Chauvin adds: “We also recommend that the growing use of the online environment to conduct illicit activities is addressed in a practical way with the cooperation of all relevant actors.”
Critics have noted that countries with the biggest counterfeiting problems have so far not taken part in ACTA negotiations. Instead, the participants have come mainly from the developed world (the US, EU, Canada, Mexico, Japan, Korea, New Zealand and Switzerland).
Reflecting upon these concerns, Chauvin said ACTA should not be “a restricted club of the few”. He added: “It is important that other countries that will not participate from the outset are encouraged to join the ACTA framework.”
