European Commission, Standardization against Forgeries

On the occasion of the event on customs' powers presented today, the European Commission announced that ''in two weeks' time'' it will already be putting forward a directive proposing the standardization of the various penalties applied by member countries on anyone making and selling plagiarized or counterfeit products within the EU. A spokesperson for the Community Executive in Brussels revealed that ''dissuasive and proportional penalties', valid throughout the EU, were being prepared, and emphasized that the directive ''will compel all member countries to take strong measures'' against this phenomenon.