TIE travels east - IDMS Committee meets in Sofia

To mark the Bulgarian Toy Association recently joining TIE, members of the IDMS (Industry Development and Members States) committee organised their first 2009 meeting in Sofia, Bulgaria.
The meeting, hosted by Nadia Popova, was an opportunity for TIE members to discuss the main changes which will be introduced by the recently adopted Toy Safety Directive and the challenges of its subsequent transposition into national law in the Member States, which must occur within 18 months after publication in the Official Journal. The IDMS committee will play a fundamental role in monitoring the transposition of the Directive and in ensuring the members are informed about and prepared for all stages of the process in the various Member States.

At a dinner prior to the meeting, Dragomir Angelov, Vice President of the Bulgarian Toy Association, gave an overview of the state of industry in Bulgaria and of the association’s most recent activities.

Counterfeiting - undermining safety and business prosperity

The ContraFake 2009 conference on Counterfeiting and Piracy which took place on 2 April was designed by the European Commission to discuss the problem these activities represent to both the safety of consumers and the prosperity of business. It was a relatively high-profile event, involving the participation of 18 speakers from both the industry and the institutions, and also gathering a wide audience.

The conference focused on the planned efforts to fight this problem and in particular the contribution of the European Counterfeiting and Piracy Observatory. Notably, its aim was for the Commission to receive feedback, comments, and suggestions from the stakeholders on how to fight against counterfeiting, which could eventually feed into the objectives of the newly-created European observatory.

TIE has since long dedicated its attention to the issue of counterfeiting and look-alikes, aspects which seriously compromise the industry’s efforts to promote optimal safety of its products and hampers business growth. Peter Dorscht represented TIE on one of the panel sessions and gave a presentation on what the toy industry has been doing in the fight against counterfeiting and in particular with regards to cooperation with public authorities. He also provided TIE’s view on how the instruments aiming to fight against counterfeiting could be improved. Peter emphasized the need for administrative cooperation between the different bodies responsible for the fight against counterfeiting and piracy as an essential means to achieve better enforcement.
Over the four panel discussions, the participants at the conference had the opportunity to learn about some successful campaigns against counterfeiting and piracy, as well as hearing about the importance of regular and thorough analyses of the impact of these activities.

Commissioner Charlie McCreevy, speaking about the rationale for creating the observatory, argued that “It is a practical, pragmatic response to the challenges we face. As a result, I am sure we will have better cooperation, stronger collaboration and the opportunity to better target our enforcement resources”.

Committee Updates

• Safety, Environment and Technical Committee (SET)
• Legal, Intellectual Property and Trade Committee (LIT)
• Industry Development and Member States Committee (IDMS)