The European Commission in its latest report stated the customs seizures of fake goods have grown by about 125 percent in 2008 from the previous year. It said China maintained its position as the major source of origin by accounting for more than 54 percent out of the 178mn fake items seized in 2008.
The customs authorities across the 27 member states have seized 79mn diskettes of pirated DVDs and CDs which has been ironically the exact number of ‘total’ fake items seized in 2007. The seizures of DVDs have witnessed the highest growth at around staggering 2600 percent.
The EU officials said that they found some of the fake items such as toys contained highly toxic substances that could cause severe health hazards. The counterfeit goods including toys, medicines and electronic items do not meet the EU standards.
Cigarettes at 23 percent and clothing at 10 percent are other fake items seized. Fake cigarettes mainly from the UAE recorded a rise of 54 percent while Indonesia has been found to be the largest source of fake food and beverages.
Fake medicines including Viagra, anti-cholesterol, anti- osteoporosis and blood pressure stabilizers also showed 118 percent growth allegedly originating from India. Last month, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) of Nigeria had announced that a large consignment of fake anti-malarial generic pharmaceuticals labelled `Made in India’ were, in fact, found to have been produced in China. Therefore, it is not clear whether China has been responsible for the pharmaceuticals share of the EU counterfeit pie.
The Commission report stated that at the moment it had no mechanism to ascertain the value of counterfeit trade in the EU. However, the latest figures are excluding the losses to industry from pirated music or films traded over the Internet. The officials expressed satisfaction in containing the fake goods through seizures that has helped to stop some of the losses of legitimate trade.
Toboc Trade News