European Observatory on Infringements of Intellectual Property
BASCAP has a close working relationship with the European Observatory. This relationship has given BASCAP the opportunity to work with the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM) and provide input in the stakeholder consultation process, where it has flagged up consumer awareness of IP issues as a top priority.
Working relationship
BASCAP has worked closely with the European Observatory on Infringements of Intellectual Property Rights since it was created by the European Commission in 2009 as the Observatory on Counterfeiting and Piracy. BASCAP members have been actively engaged on the three Observatory Expert Working Groups (Statistics, Legal and Public Awareness), and BASCAP's consumer research and "Fakes Cost More/I Buy Real" campaign were a cornerstone of the training. As a result of this close partnership with the Observatory, BASCAP was invited to participate in a stakeholder consultation process to provide input to OHIM on the future mission, objectives and work programme of the Observatory. BASCAP submitted written comments in July, participated in the Observatory Plenary meeting on 27-28 September and followed up with a written summary of comments on the draft 2013 Work Programme. The Programme lays out an ambitious course for the Observatory, now under the leadership of OHIM, and BASCAP's comments urged that the plans be refocused on the current core projects, that include the consumer awareness program as the first priority. In this regard, the Observatory is expected to soon field consumer research in all of the Member States based on BASCAP's earlier consumer research and to introduce a Toolkit, featuring BASCAP's views on the Work Programme, which were supported by other stakeholders and well received by the attendees and staff.