MANDELSON URGES CHINA TO ATTACK COUNTERFEIT
Peter Mandelson, the European trade commissioner, called on Beijing yesterday to attack the “army of violators” behind its counterfeiting industry, which accounts for over half the fake goods seized at European customs.
Washington is considering filing a complaint with the World Trade Organisation against China's intellectual property rights record, a move Brussels has avoided. The European Union and the US argue that Beijing needs to do much more to criminalise counterfeiting-related offences, which are often overlooked by police and courts.
“My primary target is those who are using the internet to download other people's designs in a matter of seconds or minutes . . . to provide for illegal production,” Mr Mandelson said in an interview with the Financial Times. “This is illegal industry on a vast scale.”
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China's counterfeiters are highly advanced and have the ability to copy patented products and technology quickly and then distribute it for sale around the country or for export. Along with pirated luxury goods, fake foods and drinks, the EU is now discovering car and aircraft parts, electrical appliances and even birth control pills and HIV drugs that have come from China, Mr Mandelson said.
Such fake goods are often then transported to a third destination. Many of the criminal networks involved in the fake goods trade are also active in money-laundering, according to an EU official.
“Only government action on a similar scale [as China's piracy problem] will succeed in combating it,” said Mr Mandelson, who also criticised China's state television and karaoke bars for not paying royalties to European copyright holders.
Mr Mandelson, visiting Beijing and the south-west city of Chengdu this week, has met the Chinese commerce minister, Bo Xilai, and plans to see Vice- Premier Wu Yi at the end of the week.
While the commissioner described China's goods piracy as causing a “huge drain” on European competitiveness, Mr Bo said Beijing had made “tremendous efforts” in the area.
曼德尔森敦促中国打击造假
欧盟贸易专员彼得?曼德尔森(Peter Mandelson)昨日呼吁中国政府打击造假行业背后的“违法大军”。欧洲海关查封的假货过半来自中国。
美国正考虑就中国的知识产权保护状况，向世界贸易组织(WTO)提出申诉，而欧盟则没有采取这一行动。欧盟和美国均强调，中国需要采取更多措施，给造假类违法行为治罪。中国警方和法院常常忽视造假行为。
曼德尔森在接受英国《金融时报》采访时说：“我的首要目标是那些利用互联网、花上片刻时间将别人的设计下载下来……用于非法生产的人。这是一个规模巨大的非法行业。”
中国的造假者手段非常先进，有能力迅速仿制专利产品和技术，然后销往全国各地，或是出口。曼德尔森说，欧盟现在发现，除仿冒的奢侈品、食品和饮料之外，来自中国的假货还有汽车和飞机零件、电器产品，甚至包括避孕药和艾滋病药物等。
这类假货通常会被转往第三国目的地。一位欧盟官员称，很多参与假货贸易的犯罪网络通常也会大量参与洗钱。
曼德尔森说：“只有政府采取(与中国盗版问题)类似规模的行动，这场战斗才能胜利。”他还批评中国的国家电视台和卡拉OK歌厅没有向欧洲版权所有者支付版税。
曼德尔森本周访问了北京和中国西南部城市成都。他已会见中国商务部长薄熙来，并计划在本周末与中国副总理吴仪会晤。
曼德尔森认为，中国的盗版问题“严重损害了”欧洲的竞争力。但薄熙来表示，中国政府已在这方面做出“巨大努力”。
