Meeting of the Inter-sectoral Commission against IP rights infringement

Retakes its activity

We would like to dedicate again this article of our Bulletin to the fight against counterfeiting, a relevant topic that concerns the SPTO as an entity devoted to industrial and intellectual property rights protection. We are pleased to note the great number of measures that the Spanish Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism is taking in this field.

One of them is the reactivation of the Inter-sectoral Commission against IP rights infringement work with a meeting that was held at the MINCOTUR headquarters past December 10th. This Commission depends on the Spanish Government, being a collegial body with an advisory nature whose purpose is to propel actions that prevent and avoid those behaviours that infringe IP rights, coordinate the action of Public Administrations between themselves and with the private sector and channel the international obligations that Spain assumes in this area. The meeting was chaired by Reyes Maroto Illera, principal of the Ministry of Industry and was also attended by representatives of different Ministries, Regional Governments (CC.AA, by its Spanish acronym) and private organizations directly involved in this subject.

The most remarkable point of the meeting was the announcement of the imminent implementation of four essential measures for anti-counterfeiting by the Spanish Government. Firstly, the approval of the Royal Decree Law to amend the Law 17/2001, of December 7th, on Trademarks, before the end of the year; this Decree includes effective measures in the customs field. Secondly, the creation of an advertising campaign in order to defend the legal selling of products 'Be responsible with your shopping, there is a lot at stake', mentioned in the previous article of our Bulletin. Thirdly, the approval in the near future of the National Anti-Counterfeiting Plan, whose details will be revealed during the first quarter of 2019. Finally, the definition of the new agenda for 2019 of the Commission working groups (groups for regulation, statistics and awareness-raising). In addition, during the meeting, the Deputy Secretary of the Commission invited the attendees to participate in those groups in which they consider that they can make interesting contributions and suggested creating a new group with a social approach to the counterfeiting phenomenon.

We hope that this working line will have continuity next year and these measures will mean an effective drop on counterfeiting and a greater awareness of society.