The Enterprise and Industry Directorate General of the European Commission has published a Public Consultation in Preparation of a Legal Proposal to Combat Counterfeit Medicines for Human Use, subtitled "Key Ideas for Better Protection of Patients Against the Risk of Counterfeit Medicines". It's only 14 pages long.

Comments should be emailed here by 9 May 2008. Contributions will be made publicly available on the "Pharmaceuticals" website of Directorate General Enterprise and Industry once the consultation period is over.

CLASS 46 comment: a pdf word search of this document reveals that the terms "brand", "intellectual property", "patent" and "trade mark"/"trademark" are not mentioned in it at all. However,

"Recently, there has been alarming evidence that, besides the internet, the licensed distribution chain, including authorised wholesalers, parallel traders and pharmacies are being increasingly targeted by counterfeiters, as they allow distribution of high volumes of medicines. The UK MHRA reported that incidents affecting the regular distribution chain have steadily increased since 2004, with counterfeit medicine reaching patients on 9 occasions, necessitating batch".