At a meeting of the EU Competitiveness Council yesterday, ministers from the 27 states invited the European Commission to set up a counterfeiting and piracy observatory; disseminate information on counterfeiting and piracy; and develop action to raise awareness.

The observatory would be based on the Commission’s existing structures and would use available data to produce a more precise analysis of counterfeiting and piracy than is available today.

Under the second part of the plan, information would be disseminated to “those involved in combating these phenomena, especially via the internet”.

The third part of the plan, raising awareness, would include drawing up operational guides and organising a European awareness day.

The ministers also urged the Commission and member states to use all appropriate means to take further action to combat counterfeiting and piracy, including submitting an anti-counterfeiting Customs plan for 2009-2012, setting up a network for information exchange, promoting coordination between institutions and encouraging public/private sector partnerships.

They added that the EU should “promote the inclusion, in bilateral and multilateral agreements concluded by the European Union, of measures on intellectual property rights ... and help to enforce those measures” and should take an active part in negotiations on an Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA).

In a joint statement, BusinessEurope, the International IP Protection Forum of Japan and the US Chamber of Commerce welcomed the plan saying: “The three organisations expect enhanced action to strengthen IP rights and the rule of law that underpins innovation.”

The organisations, who met in Brussels this week, also called for a successful conclusion of the ACTA negotiations.