Brussels, 19/05/2008 (Agence Europe) - From medications to foodstuffs, all economic sectors are now victims of counterfeiting or pirating, a report published on Monday 19 May by the European Commission on customs activities in 207 reveals. The Commission notes a dramatic increase in copied articles which pose a potential risk to consumers (razor blades, moisturising creams, medications, toys, foodstuffs). But products which have been pirated for many years, such as clothing and luxury products (watches and jewellery) are not to be outdone.
In 2007, customs officials intercepted more than 79 million articles which contravened intellectual property rights, compared to 128 million the previous year. This can be explained by a drop in seizures of counterfeit cigarettes (-63% to 27 million articles) and CDs and DVDs (-78%, to 3.3 million units). The report notes that this may reflect “a change in smuggling techniques”. All other sectors saw worrying increases: +264% in individual seizures of cosmetics and personal care products (6 millions articles), +98% for toys and games (4.7 million articles), +89% for jewellery and watches (1.8 million), +62% for foodstuffs (almost 2 million articles), +62% for IT equipment and +51% for medications.
The number of customs operations where articles were seized increased sharply, rising from 37 333 in 2006 to 43 671 in 2007 (+17%), particularly in the clothing and accessories sector (26 670 operations), far ahead of jewellery and watches (4148 operations).
By country, France carried out the largest number of seizures (14 293), followed by Germany (6393). However, Italy tops the table for the number of individual articles seized (17.4 million articles), ahead of Germany (11.2 million).
58% of the products seized in 2007 came from China, which comes top in practically every sector. It is worth noting that 15.6% of objects intercepted were of unknown origin, seemingly because of deliberate efforts on the part of counterfeiters to cover their tracks. Other countries which set themselves apart in the production of fake products include: Turkey (almost 5%), India (2.7%), Georgia (2.5%), Switzerland (2.06%), the United Arab Emirates (2.01%), Hong Kong (2.00%) and Bulgaria (1.65%). Customs services more specifically pinpoint the source country of intercepted products, which may be mere transit points. In this area Turkey (6.7% of products seized came direct from its territory last year) comes top for foodstuffs and drinks, and takes second place behind Georgia for cosmetics and personal care products. Italy (source country for 3.7% of products seized) comes second for jewellery, clothing accessories and IT equipment and in third place for foodstuffs, shoes, toys and games. Counterfeit medications came primarily from Switzerland in 2007, followed by India and the United Arab Emirates. Although 75% of the counterfeit CDs and DVDs seized came from China, Poland very marginally took third place (3.3%).
The European Commissioner for customs László Kovács said: “Counterfeiting continues to pose a dangerous threat to our health, safety and our economy”. He stigmatised the negative effects of the phenomenon, which poses problems in terms of respect for intellectual property rights (IPR), drains revenues for the Member States, erodes manufacturers' margins, and threatens jobs in Europe and the health and safety of consumers.
Among the “alarming trends” mentioned by Mr Kovács was the growth (+17% on 2006) in the number of seizures of “small batched” of counterfeit products. Internet sales have boomed. Counterfeiters take fewer risks and prefer to send small quantities in small batches, the Commissioner explained. Customs cooperation enables high-risk shipments to be targeted and performances to be improved. “Cooperation with China is improving”, the Commissioner noted, although he has observed that there are still problems with the implementation of measures agreed upon. A customs action plan between the parties containing concrete actions will be presented in November at the next EU/China Summit (see EUROPE 9268). Mr Kovács observed “a world of difference” between the Chinese authorities' attitude at the beginning of cooperation with the EU and at the present time. Some individuals have been given “very hard sentences” for producing and distributing counterfeit merchandise. In Mr Kovács' view, the change of attitude is due to China's increased responsibility in the global economy and also to the fact that the country is itself becoming a target for counterfeiting. The Commissioner pointed out that around twenty Chinese children were paralysed after consuming counterfeit powdered milk. The Commissioner also mentioned cooperation with the USA on integrated circuits (EUROPE 9609). (M.B./L.C.)