Public Policy & Advocacy
BASCAP’s long term goal is to press governments to take concrete action to reduce and ultimately eliminate counterfeiting and piracy. Shorter term, BASCAP’s priority is to push for significantly higher benchmarks for government performance at the national, regional, multi-lateral and international level.
Some of the key recent actions and accomplishments include:
BASCAP Action
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Impacts & Achievements
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Anti-counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA)
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BASCAP is actively pressing for strong enforcement provisions in ACTA, meeting with USTR Ambassador Schwab and providing Ministers from each negotiating country with a series of papers detailing recommendations for inclusion of enforcement provisions in the final treaty. This work has been complemented with press releases conveying business perspectives on the negotiations and formulation of a ‘business response group’ comprised of 20 national anti-counterfeiting associations endorsing BASCAP input to ACTA.
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G8 Ministers
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BASCAP has called on the leaders of the G8 in advance of their annual Summit Meetings (UK in 2005, Russia 2006, Germany 2007, Japan 2008) to make counterfeiting and piracy, and protection of IP rights, a higher priority for their governments. This direct intervention has resulted in official statements on the importance of protecting intellectual property in the Declaration documents from each Summit, and we continue to press the G8 leaders to turn these Declarations into action.
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OECD
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BASCAP played a leadership role in funding and developing the major OECD study on impacts of counterfeiting. BASCAP continues to assist OECD to communicate results to thought leaders and policy makers globally, and to pursue further studies and action steps to leverage the OECD’s reputation and standing with key governments around the world.
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EU
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BASCAP has engaged with the European Union directly and in partnership with other industry groups to push for stronger EU action in the fight against counterfeiting and piracy. Recent efforts include a letter signed by all BASCAP CEOs to EU President Barosso to encourage stronger European Union attention to IP enforcement. BASCAP also has added its support to the development of the “EU Observatory on Counterfeiting”.
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Intergovernmental Organizations
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BASCAP works continually to urge tangible actions by Interpol, WIPO, WCO, and other intergovernmental organizations, by engaging in partnerships and advisory group roles and in stakeholder meetings, and providing targeted project support and funding.
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Global Congress
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BASCAP is a partner with WCO, WIPO and Interpol in organizing an annual Congress bringing together government and private sector leaders from around the world to identify challenges, best practices and recommendations for better enforcement of IP rights.
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World Economic Forum
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BASCAP collaborates with the World Economic Forum to ensure counterfeiting and piracy are included as priority issues in WEF forums in Davos and around the world and to support and participate in WEF sessions with government, IGO and NGO leaders on the issues.
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Country action centers
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BASCAP is working to improve national intellectual property enforcement regimes by creating country-level action plans and coalitions, leveraging existing local business voices to push for tangible and measureable results.
- Established the first business association to fight counterfeiting and piracy on a national level in Canada.
- Held consultations with German ministries and provided recommendations to legislative initiatives.
- Supporting enforcement of U.K. legislation tracking and seizing revenues earned through counterfeit product trafficking.
- Met with Indian Economics minister and associated public debate on provisions for reducing counterfeiting and piracy in India.
- Creating a BASCAP Russia coalition of multi-national companies to press for the introduction of new legislation to criminalize counterfeiting.
- Partnering with the Africa Industrial Association to assimilate recommendations to Africa governments, continent-wide.
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Communications & Education
Greater public awareness and education are essential in the fight against counterfeiting and piracy. BASCAP communications capitalize on ICC’s strong and broad media “assets” including materials production staff, editorial writers, global mailing lists, email alerts, website featuring 300,000 page views per month, and a worldwide network of media contacts.
Hundreds of BASCAP news reports have appeared on television and radio and in wire services, newspapers, magazines, and e-publications. Major international media, including CNN, BBC, CNBC, Bloomberg TV, Star TV Asia, Reuters, Associated Press, Dow Jones Newswire, Agence France Presse, the Financial Times and the International Herald Tribune have covered BASCAP meetings, events and press releases. National television, radio and press reports have appeared in over 30 countries throughout the world, notably in China, Russia, India, and Brazil. Our messages have repeatedly reached at 350 million households worldwide.
Additionally, a cornerstone of BASCAP activities is the creation of educational content aimed to help governments better understand the value of investing in stronger IP enforcement.
BASCAP Action
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Impacts & Achievements
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Impact reports
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Many government leaders still need to be convinced that counterfeiting and piracy are issues that warrant attention and resources. To this end, BASCAP develops strong data-based arguments on the costs and other impacts. BASCAP currently is working with an international economics consultancy to construct models to quantify losses and impacts associated with counterfeiting and piracy and better determine how investments in IP enforcement can pay tangible dividends to local economic development and society (employment, tax base, technology transfer, crime).
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Global survey
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In collaboration with the City University of London, BASCAP conducted a global survey on counterfeiting and piracy and is using it as a policy tool to highlight areas that deserve greater attention within national IP protection programs and to measure progress in country.
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IP Guidelines for Business
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One challenge in convincing governments to take action is to show that the private sector is doing its part. In this regard, BASCAP has developed a set of IP Guidelines for Business that provides practical steps for businesses to take to assess the effectiveness of their IP management policies and to improve management of risks associated with counterfeiting and piracy. The Guidelines were launched in meetings with senior government officials, industry and press in Jedda, Saudi Arabia and Strasbourg, France. The guidelines along with suggestions for implementation are being provided to thousands of companies and governments worldwide.
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Standing up for intellectual property
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Through publication and dissemination of this document, BASCAP provides arguments for the protection of intellectual property rights from economic, social and legal standpoints.
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Consumer awareness campaign
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BASCAP is working with professional communications agencies, private sector organization partners and WIPO to create a global awareness campaign to generate awareness, understanding and collective action by consumers, decision makers and supply chain partners worldwide.
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BASCAP Digest
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The Digest provides weekly reports on counterfeiting and piracy incidents, policy developments and technology solutions. It has emerged as the “go-to” source for regular statistics, data, news and information by 3,000 subscribers.
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BASCAP country gateways
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BASCAP delivers a first-ever web portal offering critical intelligence on a country-by-country basis, tracking developments in 60 countries, spanning 6 continents. ICC national committees sponsor twelve of these gateways
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BASCAP sector gateways
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Sector gateways are an on-line tool to share lessons-learned across sectors and serve as one-stop portal for locating counterfeiting and piracy information by product sector. There are currently 11 Sectors Gateways, each of which features facts and recent studies conducted in the sector; along with information on sector-related enforcement activities and an index of key contacts working in the area. Gateways are sponsored by trade associations, linking visitors back to their websites.
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Brand protection directory
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Developed in partnership with the ICC Counterfeiting Intelligence Bureau, the Directory provides information on how companies can protect their brands through investigation or use of anti-counterfeiting technologies. There are currently 45 companies headquartered in 18 countries listed in the Brand Protection Gateways.
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Connections gateway
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This BASCAP service is a first-ever on-line connection hub of anti-counterfeiting groups working at the national level around the globe. It has been useful in conducting the global survey of anti-counterfeiting advertising campaigns and in generating global business support for ACTA. There are currently 31 national associations from 22 countries participating in the Gateway, in addition to 7 regional/ international associations, and 6 intergovernmental organizations.
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Case study database
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The BASCAP case study on-line database is a first-ever attempt to catalogue thousands of reports, facts and experiences that clarify the need for better IPR enforcement and deepen public understanding of the harm counterfeiting and piracy impose on the greater society.
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