Record label bosses have attacked EU proposals for combating music piracy as being "inadequate". The new proposals come after EU officials recognised the problems of piracy, and the impact it has on the music industry. They want to harmonise existing piracy legislation across the European Union so pirates can’t base themselves in one EU country where the law is lax and then supply their European neighbours with pirated music. Proposed legislation plans to be tough on bootleggers – jailing and freezing the bank accounts of counterfeiters. But officials do not want to criminalise people who download music from the internet for their own use.
But global industry association, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry reckons the proposals failed to introduce "urgently needed measures to hold back the epidemic of counterfeiting". In a statement they said: "The Commission's unambitious draft directive fails to introduce harmonisation at the levels necessary to ensure that pirates can no longer play on national differences to avoid detection and prosecution." Adding proposals "do not even reach the levels already available under some existing national laws".
The IFPI is expected to continue lobbying for stricter legislation as the directive goes forward to the European Parliament.