Clause 6 - Search warrants
Copyright, etc. and Trade Marks (Offences and Enforcement) Bill
11:00 am
Mr Nigel Griffiths (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department of Trade and Industry; Edinburgh South, Labour)
Members of the Committee will know that the Home Office is currently reviewing its sentencing policy as a result of the Halliday report. There will be a review of how sentences are applied in practice. Trading standards officers are represented in the counterfeiting and piracy forum, which has brought together concerns about intellectual property crime. It is considering ways in which to facilitate and improve co-operation more generally to make enforcement more effective. That should assist TSOs and law enforcers, including the police who are the subject of the clause under discussion, and allow them to do their jobs more effectively. I cannot speak for
TSOs in Spain, but the point was well made by my hon. Friend the Member for Rhondda. I hope that the Bill will help make convictions more certain. That, in itself, will act as a deterrent. If fewer people attempt such crimes because they know that there is a greater certainty of being caught, that will lower the cost of enforcement. With that, I commend the clause.
Question put and agreed to.
Clause 6 ordered to stand part of the Bill.
Clause 7 ordered to stand part of the Bill.
Bill to be reported, without amendment.
Committee rose at ten minutes past Eleven o'clock.