MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

EU will not join US in WTO complaint against China

The European Union does not plan to join United States complaint to the WTO about intellectual property rights and piracy in China despite agreeing with its substance, a senior European official said on Thursday.

Viviane Reding, the EU Information Society and Media Commissioner, said protecting intellectual property rights was a fundamental concern of the block, but legal action was not the way to go. "We will follow it as observers. We will try with bilateral discussions to find solutions with our Chinese counterparts," she told a news conference in Beijing. "We agree with the substance, and that IPR has to be preserved and that there has to be fair remuneration for those who have invested in research and development or for the copyright of those creating content," Reding added. "We do not at this moment think that it is time for the European Union to go to the WTO court." Charging China was breaking its 2001 WTO entry agreement Washington on Tuesday sought consultations with Beijing over piracy. This could lead to a formal case being brought if no deal is struck within 60 days. China insisted the decision could seriously damage cooperation and hurt bilateral trade. Reding said she had been assured by her counterparts that the Chinese government took copyright protection seriously.