COVID-19 dents EU-border anti-counterfeit efforts
The number of fake goods detained at the EU border fell from 41 million in 2019 to 27 million in 2020, according to a report from the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) and the European Commission, which partly attributes the significant decrease to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Released on Tuesday, November 30, “ EU enforcement of intellectual property rights: results at the EU border and in the EU internal market 2020” is the first joint annual document between the EUIPO and the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Taxation and Customs Union.
Previously, the organisations published separate reports showing the annual results for enforcement of IP rights by EU enforcers at the EU border and in the EU internal market respectively.
The annual number of detentions of goods suspected of infringing an IP right by customs authorities at the EU border fell from approximately 90,000 in 2019 to approximately 70,000 in 2020). Additionally, the number of initiated procedures has also decreased from approximately 117,000 in 2019 to approximately 102,000 in 2020.
“The COVID crisis certainly had an impact on detentions results at the border for 2020 due to a combination of various factors, such as less trade in the first months of the pandemic, less goods crossing the borders as well as enforcement authorities facing difficulties to deliver controls as usual,” said the report.
While the number of detentions at the EU border fell, the estimated value of the detained articles increased slightly from some €759 million to €778 million ($861 million to $882 million). This was due to a shift of the basket of products detained towards more expensive items than in the previous year (including more clothing) and to the increase of the estimated unit price of some of the products detained (watches).
Meanwhile, within the EU’s internal market, the number of IP infringing goods detained increased last year to 46 million, as compared with 44 million in 2019. The report noted that this may not be the whole figure as there was a lack of data from British enforcement authorities.
Clothing accessories
Within the EU, clothing accessories were the leading category, both in terms of the number of items detained and estimated value. Packaging materials followed, along with recorded CDs/DVDs, labels, tags and stickers, and clothing.
“It should be highlighted that packaging materials, with its potential multiplying effect for the production of more fake products through wrapping unbranded products within fake packaging, was among the top three most detained products both,” said the report.
Overall, the volume of fake items detained and not released in the EU was approximately 66 million items in 2020, implying a reduction of almost 13% of the number of items reported as detained and not released in 2019. Nearly 70% of these items were detained in the internal market.
The estimated value of fake items detained in the EU amounted to approximately €2 billion, representing a decrease of 19% compared to the previous year.
Trademarks were predominantly infringed at the EU border—in nearly three-quarters of the articles detained where at least one IP right was infringed, a trademark was infringed. More than one-quarter of items infringed designs.
