Clause 6 - Search warrants
Copyright, etc. and Trade Marks (Offences and Enforcement) Bill
11:00 am
Dr Vincent Cable (Twickenham, Liberal Democrat)
I thank the hon. Member for Eastbourne (Mr. Waterson) for his helpful and supportive approach to the Bill, which is appreciated. He wanted reassurance that the Bill would not lead to a proliferation of new sentences. That is implicit in all that has been said so far in our proceedings. We are talking not about a new crime, but one that already exists. In effect, all that would happen under the Bill is a process of harmonisation. It would bring the property law of copyright theft into line with the criminal sentencing provisions of trade mark crime. That would be a relatively limited change, and I should have thought that it was not beyond the scope of the judiciary to extend its range a little in that direction.
The hon. Gentleman wanted to make sure that the authorities were aware of the seriousness of the offences and the potential for additional sentencing for the most hardened criminals. As he rightly said, that is a matter for the Minister. His third point was important and was referred to also by the hon. Member for Rhondda (Mr. Bryant). I accept that an Achilles' heel of the Bill is that some of its provisions will be the responsibility of local government trading standards officers, although much of the investigative work is done by the industry. Given that the industry loses large sums, it has an interest in undertaking investigative work and providing the authorities with the results of its inquiries. Much of the spade work is done by the industry, not local government officers. However, TSOs are clearly necessary.
In taking that point on board, I hope that the Minister will think in terms of joined-up government. As was said on Second Reading, the Chancellor of the Exchequer loses vast amounts of revenue as a result of copyright theft. Goods are going into the black economy. It has been estimated that about £1.5 billion of the Government's revenue have been lost, so it would be in their interest to ensure that trading standards levels of provision are sufficient to ensure that effective prosecutions take place.
I hope that much more emphasis will be placed on trading standards officers and minimum standards for local government under the future consumer Bill that the Government have promised us. Perhaps the problem can be encountered when that Bill is discussed. That point is important. I do not believe that it was intended as a criticism of the Bill that it would only be as effective as the enforcement troops.
I am impressed by the way in which the hon. Member for Rhondda shifted his focus of attention from the apostolic succession to copyright law within 24 hours. He made the valuable point about the way in which decoding technology can be applied offshore. As he said, there is nothing very much that we can do about it under the Bill because that application would be extra-territorial and difficult to apply. I hope that, when the European copyright directive passes through the House, account will be taken of the fact that copyright law is subject to weak treatment in some European countries. The hon. Gentleman's input to the debate was helpful.