Minister of Trade and Services Slobodan Milosavljevic attended today the start of destruction of 120,000 pirated CDs in recycling centre "Bozic and Sons" (BiS), seized by the market inspection in the period from 2007 to 2009.

Milosavljevic said that the seizure of the CDs is part of the standard activity of the market inspection aimed at securing protection of intellectual property rights, the fight against piracy, but also of public health because all the materials contained in the seized goods are of unknown health quality.

He stressed that Serbia must make greater progress in these areas not only in order to fulfil European and world standards, but also to protect domestic film and music industries and ensure fair competition.

The Minister recalled that in association with Nike company, the Ministry of Trade and Services destroyed 1,704 fake Nike sport garments and 4,151 pairs of fake Nike sport shoes, at the expense of this company.

The Ministry financed the destruction of falsified products of Marbo Product company – 33, 477 packets or 1,560 kilograms of crisps, he added.

Until November this year, the Ministry approved 46 requests for protection of intellectual property and seized 39,592 pirated CDs during regular controls of street and illegal sale, mostly in Belgrade, Novi Sad and Vranje, the Minister said.

Milosavljevic thanked the representatives of the US Embassy, the American Chamber of Commerce and the Serbian Chamber of Commerce who were present at the event for helping to get things done in the best manner and announced an even more determined fight against this sort of crime.

Minister-Counsellor of the US Embassy in Belgrade Earle Litzenberger said that Serbia is losing $19 million every year because of piracy and pointed to the need of joint fight against this phenomenon which affects badly the economy of every country.