The EU throws a fresh spotlight on Fashion, Intellectual Property & the High-End Industries, through new action plan endorsed in London, December 2013.

The VP of the EU commission makes a commitment to bolster the fashion & high-end industry and tackle intellectual property infringement

The Vice President of the European Commission responsible for Industry and Entrepreneurship, Antonio Tajani, was in London for a meeting with representatives of the fashion and high-end industries to present an action plan in support of these sectors. In particular, the action plan is meant to respond to challenges such as strengthening competitiveness in a global world, fighting against counterfeiting, protection of intellectual property rights, and access to finance and international markets.

The action plan for the fashion and high-end industries

This action plan has been the result of an intensive dialogue between the Commission and representatives of the industry which took place in a series of meetings held in Brussels, Madrid, Milan and Paris this year. 

Among those attending the meeting, were the chiefs of Harrods, Walpole British Luxury, Comité Colbert, Louis Vuitton, Altagamma, Christian Dior, Cartier, Hermès, Prada, Armani, Burberry, in addition to European and national associations of the sector.

Economic importance of  fashion industry
With more than 850 000 companies and 5 million jobs, the fashion industry currently accounts for 3% of EU's GDP. Furthermore, Europe's high-end products account for 10% of total EU exports and provide one million direct jobs. Bolstering the fashion and high-end industries is an important part of the European Commission's efforts to increase the share of industry in the GDP to 20% as set in the Europe 2020 strategy.

Innovation & The challenge of the Protection of Intellectual Property & Counterfeiting in the Industry

The day before the visit to London, Tajani stated that: "The fashion and high-end industries can help Europe get out of the crisis by creating new jobs. The success of these sectors is evidence on how we can compete globally focusing on quality and creativity. However, to achieve this, it is necessary to strengthen the fight against counterfeiting, the protection of intellectual property and to invest more in innovation".

Addressing the main roadblocks to foster growth

The fashion and high-end industries are important building blocks of European industry. They are currently confronted with several challenges, including: ensuring adequate protection of intellectual property rights, combating the increased prevalence of counterfeit goods, addressing the lack of a skilled workforce and the difficulties for fashion SMEs to access finance (MEMO/13/88). The action plan – which is the result of two European Commission working documents and several high-level meetings with representatives of the fashion and high-end industries (MEMO/13/961) – attempts to address these difficulties by outlining progress that has been already made in those areas and further initiatives in eleven areas to boost growth and create more jobs.

Thoughts

The Goss-IPgirl feels that stronger emphasis needs to be placed on the strategic management and use of IP rights in the fashion industry, and is particularly glad that the EU commissioners action plans are widely focused on ‘fashion’ too which she hopes includes the ‘ready-to-wear’ and  SME’s and not merely the high-industries. Perhaps to this end it would have been useful to see more representatives and designers from the ready-to-wear community and small and medium-sized enterprises, to support their business relevance. The Goss-IPgirl looks forward to seeing how the commissioners plans unfold leading up to the culmination of the EU's 2020 entrepreneurship action plan.