Belgium:The European Parliament on February 23 approved the proposal for a new regulation to amend Customs control procedures and boost security at the EU's borders, first put forward by the European Commission in July 2003. The proposed regulation will introduce the possibility for Customs offices to exchange information electronically on goods movements, as well as a Community-wide computerized system for risk management. The Netherlands: Piracy investigators discovered more than 140,000 fake CDs and DVDs during raids on 13 shops in Rotterdam in March. More than 100 Dutch fiscal police officers uncovered the fakes, with most them believed to have been smuggled into the Netherlands from Pakistan. The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), Dutch anti-piracy group BREIN and the British Phonographic Industry were also involved in the raids. UK: Thirty-one individuals face letters from the UK music industry warning them against their file-sharing activities following an order by the High Court on March 11, forcing six UK internet service providers to release the names and addresses of the suspects. The order followed settlements agreed by the British Phonographic Industry a week earlier in 23 out of 26 cases that it had launched in October 2004, amounting to a total of £50,000 ($95,000) paid by the infringers to avoid court proceedings. UK: A bitter dispute over the colour orange is heading for the courts, after easyGroup and Orange (owned by France Telecom) ended attempts to settle their differences at the end of February. easyGroup announced last summer that it would enter the European mobile phone market in association with Danish company TDC mobile, planning to use the name easyMobile and the familiar easyGroup shade of orange. But rival mobile phone operator Orange is already established in the UK market and relies heavily on the name and colour orange in its marketing.
