US commerce secretary Carlos Gutierrez, European commission vice president and commissioner for industry Gunter Verheugen and EU trade commissioner Peter Mandelson have launched a joint EU-US action programme to tackle global intellectual property piracy.

The programme was conceived in 2005 and will be endorsed by the EU-US Summit in Vienna on June 21. The joint strategy issaid to be an important reinforcement of the global fight against counterfeiting and intellectual property theft. It is the first EU-US joint enforcement programme of its kind.

The number of counterfeit items seized at EU borders increased by more than 1000% between 1998 and 2004, rising from 10 million in 1998 to over 103 million in 2004.