UK and Sweden pressure EU for luxury goods reform

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The UK and Sweden yesterday launched an initiative to reform Europe's trademark controls to allow lower prices for brand goods, thus threatening the basis for selective distribution. The EU Trade Mark Directive allows brand owners to prevent their goods being imported into the EU from outside the trading bloc for resale inside it. EU consumer affairs ministers are meeting today in Sweden, which currently holds the EU presidency, and will be represented with a report by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) commissioned by the two countries.

The EIU report, which received wide coverage in the UK press, shows Britain as the most expensive country for goods such as cosmetics, luxury fashion labels, CDs and electronic goods with Sweden closely behind. Covering 57 product categories and 143 items, the survey concluded that US prices were "significantly cheaper" than in Europe overall and Germany and France were cheaper than the UK and Sweden for most brands.

Earlier this month a European Court opinion left the door open for supermarket chain Tesco to import Levi jeans from outside the EU and sell them at lower than authorised prices. Legal wrangling continues but meanwhile Tesco is selling Levi 501s for $36 instead of the usual $79 charged in the UK for Levis bought through authorised suppliers.