BRUSSELS, April 18: EU trade chief Peter Mandelson toughened up Europe's line on China's “patchy” protection of intellectual property rights on Wednesday, raising the prospect of WTO action against Beijing.

Weeks after the United States lodged a complaint with the World Trade Organisation, Mandelson warned that the EU could follow in Washington's footsteps with its own case at the global trade referee.

“I do not rule out initiating or joining action at the WTO if in our view China is failing to take its responsibilities seriously,” he told journalists in Brussels.

“China has agreed to protect (intellectual property rights). It did so when it joined the WTO and despite considerable efforts by the Chinese government, IPR protection in China remains patchy and uneven,” he added.

Mandelson took a tougher stance than his colleague Viviane Reding, the EU's media and telecoms commissioner, who said during a visit in Beijing shortly after the US action that Brussels would not join the lawsuit.

With counterfeit DVDs and luxury goods widely available on the streets of Chinese cities, China's position on intellectual property rights is increasingly becoming a source of tension with its trading partners.

While claiming to have confiscated more than 90 per cent of the pirated CDs and DVDs produced nationwide last year, authorities' resources are limited, according to one top Chinese copyright protection official.

Taking a more diplomatic approach than the US to the problem so far, Mandelson has lobbied Beijing to crack down even harder on copyright piracy but stressed that the EU expected the “dialogue” to bear fruit.

“As we're seeing in the United States, Europe's patience could wear thin if we do not see our dialogue with the Chinese authorities delivering more change when it comes to IPR and other market access issues,” he said.

Mandelson's comments came as he was presenting an updated strategy for bringing down trade barriers considered to be unfair to EU exports, including plans to pursue more cases at the WTO if need be.—AFP