6. We did a bit of house-cleaning in our legislation and we went out to look back for any pieces of legislation that are intellectual property relevant. We found a number that we had not notified in due time. Since there are around 15 pieces of legislation, I will introduce two of them as an example: Regulation 251/2014 on Geographical Indications for Aromatized Wine Products, this is a Regulation that stipulates the specifications of aromatized wine products, and protection of their geographical indications. It seeks to ensure high levels of consumer protection, product authenticity, market transparency and fair competition. It applies to all aromatized wine products placed on the market in the European Union whether they are produced in the EU or in non EU countries, and also products produced in the European Union for export. The preceding Regulations dating from 1991, and from 1994, regulating aromatized wine products, proved successful and, while independent of these Regulations, markets considerably expanded and there was a growth in this area. However, due to technological innovation, market development and evolving consumer expectations, it was necessary to update the rules on the definition, description, presentation, labelling and protection of geographical indications for these products.
7. Regulation 386/2012 on the Establishment of the European Observatory on Counterfeiting and Piracy created an institution that is producing remarkable work since then. This Observatory had already been established de facto in 2009 as an EU-wide network of representatives to support the protection of intellectual property rights and help combat the growing threat of IP infringement and also as a centre of excellence on information and data relating to the value of intellectual property rights and the negative consequences of infringement thereof. The Observatory was at the time intrusive to OHIM which in the meantime became the European Union Intellectual Property Office, our agency in charge of registration of trademarks and designs in June 2012 by this Regulation. The Regulation covers the responsibility for a wide range of tasks relating to research, communication, and spread of best practices and enforcement of all types of intellectual property rights, thus not limited to the ones that are attached to the EUIPO. In order to carry out these assigned tasks, an Observatory department was formed in late 2012 consisting of three main areas: (i) the Observatory operations and projects (ii) the Academy and (iii) the Chief Economist. Thus the Observatory has become fully integrative into the EU IP Office and benefits from all the capabilities and resources of this Office. Aligned with the EU IPO Strategic Plan, there is an Observatory multi-annual plan which identifies several key initiatives designed to enable it to become the centre of excellence and the central resource for gathering information that will facilitate and support the activities of national authorities, EU institutions and the private sector. Here in the broader sense of the term it is not only about right holders but also other civil society sectors and organizations.
8. These key initiatives will be executed by the Observatory and/or several resources as appropriate, taking full advantage of the synergies created by putting in place representatives of all these different interests. European Union policy makers see innovation and creativity as a corner stone of economic development. In this context and considering the mission and the range of activities defined in Regulation 386/2012 the EU has set three main goals for the Observatory: provide facts and evidence for use in formulation of effective IP policies by policy makers; to create tools and resources to sharpen the fight against IP infringement; and to raise awareness of intellectual property and of the negative effects of counterfeiting and piracy. The approach to achieve these proposed goals is based on two complementary pillars. The first pillar aims at strengthening the efficiency and efficacy of the public-private network that makes up the core of the Observatory's function. The second pillar aims at facilitating and promoting the process of cooperation with third countries in order to advance knowledge and enhance protection of intellectual property.
9. The three goals of the Observatory will be achieved by executing five key initiatives grouped in the following lines of action: 1) evidence based contributions and data to enable EU and national policy makers to shape effective IP enforcement policies and to support innovation and creativity; 2) data, tools and databases to support EU and national authorities in the fight against IP infringement; 3) knowledge building and learning programmes for enforcement authorities as well as for businesses especially small and medium-sized enterprises and on that I will be discussing more later in the Agenda; 4) campaigns to raise overall awareness of IP value and the negative effects of IP infringement; and 5) initiatives to help right holders protect their IP rights both within and outside of the European Union. In pursuing these programmes the Observatory has already published a considerable number of studies on intellectual property, on methodology, and on economic value. Therefore, remarkable work has already been done in the last five to six years. I believe this is useful because there is an international dimension to the work of the Observatory and there is of interest in value to all Members of this Council.
