Intellectual Property, Damages Actions and Payments

10.30 Leave for Heathrow. I have already had telephone conversations with Carol in Brussels to confirm wording of an amendment to the Equitable Life report which is due in by noon (11 am our time). We land early in Brussels so I get to Parliament by just after 3pm. I immediately start work on more amendments for the directive on criminal sanctions for intellectual property. This is being voted in Strasbourg next week so I have to get the amendments approved by the Group this week.

16.30 Sanchez Presedo the Rapporteur on the damages action report comes to see me. He starts by saying “I have come to see you about your report – after all it is now more yours!”. It is true I controlled the voting in committee but we had actually reached agreement on most of my changes anyway. He now wants to reincorporate two things that were deleted in the committee votes. One is ok because it was lost because the socialists were too slow to vote. The other we voted against because the language was confused and it had slipped my notice. However I am now able to agree how to change it so that it fits in with everything else.

17.15 We have been alerted to an amendment that our Civil Liberties colleagues want to put to the payments directive. It is about SWIFT. The content I can agree in sentiment but I do not think it has a place in the directive, especially at this stage, and as it is of wider significance it is hard to see how any rapid agreement on it, or indeed practical implementation, could be reached, and so if it were passed it would also cause the package to fail. I send out a few emails of explanation. I am reluctant to argue it just on the basis of ‘the package’ agreed with Council but think I have to make sure the significance is appreciated. Leave at about 7.45pm taking various papers with me.