EU customs officials seized more than 31 million counterfeit products at the 28-nation bloc’s external border in 2017, new figures released yesterday by the European Commission have revealed.
The items had an estimated a street value of over €580 million ($672 million).
While the number of smuggled items discovered at the border was down compared to the previous year, potentially-dangerous bogus goods such as healthcare products, medicines, toys and electrical items made up a higher proportion (43%) of all seizures.
Fake food and drink items accounted for the greatest proportion (24%) of all counterfeit goods seized across the course of the year, followed by toys (11%), tobacco products (9%) and clothing (7%).
The Commission said 65% of all seized counterfeit items entered the EU by boat, typically as part of major large consignments.
Fourteen percent of fake products were brought into the EU by air, while counterfeit items smuggled into the bloc by courier traffic and postal traffic jointly accounted for 11% of all seizures. These were mostly made up of consumer goods ordered online such as shoes, clothing, bags and watches.
Overall, the total number of fake articles seized across the course of 2017 decreased by 24% compared to the previous year.
Commenting on the release of the new figures, Pierre Moscovici, Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, Taxation and Customs said: “The EU’s Customs Union is on the front line when it comes to protecting citizens from fake, counterfeit and sometimes highly dangerous goods.
“Stopping imports of counterfeits into the EU also supports jobs and the wider economy as a whole.
“The European Union stands in support of intellectual property and will continue our campaign to protect consumer health as well as protecting businesses from criminal infringement of their rights.”
While China again remained the primary country of source for fake goods entering the EU, the greatest quantity of counterfeit clothing originated from Turkey last year.
Hong Kong and China were the source of the majority of counterfeit mobile phones and accessories, ink cartridges and toners, CDs/DVDs and labels, tags and stickers that entered the EU in 2017.
Elsewhere, India was the top source of counterfeit pharmaceuticals.
In a statement, the Commission said: “This year’s figures highlight the importance of the measures presented last year by the Commission to ensure that intellectual property rights are well protected, thereby encouraging European companies, in particular SMEs and start-ups, to invest in innovation and creativity.”
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