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 is said 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.