Keywords
Summary

Keywords

Common commercial policy - Measures to prevent the release for free circulation of counterfeit or pirated goods - National legislation precluding disclosure of the identity of the declarant or consignee of such goods - Not permissible

(Council Regulation No 3295/94, Art. 6(1))

Summary

$$On a proper construction, Regulation No 3295/94 laying down measures to prohibit the release for free circulation, export, re-export or entry for a suspensive procedure of counterfeit and pirated goods precludes a rule of national law under which the identity of declarants or consignees of imported goods which the trade-mark owner has found to be counterfeit may not be disclosed to him.

Effective application of the Regulation is directly dependent on the information supplied to the holder of the intellectual property right. Thus, if the identity of the declarant and/or consignee of the goods cannot be disclosed to him, it is in practice impossible for him to refer the case to the competent national authority so that, in a decision based on the merits, it can give final judgment against such practices. The reference in the second subparagraph of Article 6(1) of the Regulation to national provisions on the protection of personal data, commercial and industrial secrecy and professional and administrative confidentiality cannot therefore be understood as precluding disclosure to the holder of the right of the information which he needs in order to safeguard his interests.