The MARQUES Anti-Counterfeiting and Parallel Trade Team comments on the recently published evaluation of the European Observatory on Infringements of Intellectual Property Rights.

Background

The Observatory was set up in 2009 by the European Commission as an informal network of private and public stakeholders concerned by IPR infringement.

In 2012 it was transferred to the EUIPO together with a set of tasks intended to organize, administer and support the gathering of experts, authorities and stakeholders under the formal name "European Observatory on Infringements of Intellectual Property Rights".

The Observatory is now composed of representatives from national authorities, industry, consumer organizations, civil society, international organizations and institutional bodies.

MARQUES is one of these members, within the private stakeholders sector, and provides input in the various projects and discussions within the Observatory from a brand owner perspective.

Evaluation

The full evaluation assesses the functioning of the Observatory on effectiveness, efficiency, coherence, relevance and EU added value.

Although there is some criticism and further proposed improvements are needed, the overall evaluation is positive.

As stakeholder in the Observatory, MARQUES recognises this positive evaluation. The Observatory has become a rich source of information related to counterfeiting and has brought together multiple stakeholders to work on a variety of initiatives including gathering of data, training and education.

MARQUES can also relate to the observation that improvement can still be made to the monitoring of the impact of these initiatives and we encourage the Observatory to ensure that the general public is reached in a language that is understandable to them.