On Wednesday 13 November, the European Commission and the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) published their joint report on the enforcement of intellectual property rights (IPR) in the EU.
According to the report, EU customs prevented almost €3.4 billion worth of counterfeit and potentially dangerous goods from entering the single market in 2023.
Around 152 million articles infringing EU IPR were seized in 2023. This represents an increase of 77% on the previous year. The most seized items are games, toys and packaging materials.
This increase in counterfeit or dangerous products is linked to the growing volume of trade, particularly in e-commerce and from online trading platforms. Temu and Shein were recently criticised by the Commission for their lack of control over the products sold on their sites (see EUROPE 13516/9).
Temu in particular is suspected by the EU of not taking sufficient action against the sale of illegal products. At the end of September, six European Union countries, including France and Germany, had asked the European Commission to turn up the heat on Temu and similar platforms (see EUROPE 13491/3).
In France, La Poste recently reported that around 22% of the parcels it handles come from Temu or Shein.
The EU’s customs reform is one of the means put forward by the Commission to try and resolve this problem.
To see the report, go to https://aeur.eu/f/ea2 (Original version in French by Isalia Stieffatre)