Euratex supports ACTA

A few days after 22 countries from the European Union signed the Anti Counterfeiting Agreement (ACTA), the organisation dedicated to the European textile and apparel industry (Euratex) announced that it is in support of the agreement.

Poland and the Czech Republic are already backing down from ACTA, an international treaty aimed at fighting against intellectual property theft, which has already given rise to a wave of protests across the world. But according to Euratex, this agreement could be nothing but beneficial to the textile and apparel industry.

“Following the deregulating world trade, and beyond discussions on more or less judicious relocation and restructuring carried out by some companies in an attempt to remedy their current problems, lies the question of the protection of the dynamic and competitive creativeness of EU small and medium enterprises (SMEs),” explained Euratex. “While famous brand names are (too) frequently quoted to illustrate counterfeiting and piracy, one must not forget that companies are also seriously affected by having their millions of designs copied.”

Euratex’s role is to represent the European textile and apparel industry, of which “99% are small and medium companies.” In 2010 there were 149,000 companies employing 1.9 million people and generated a turnover of more than 172 billion euros.

Euratex supports ACTA

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