The European Commission has recently presented its annual report on the actions taken by EU customs to uphold intellectual property rights. Such reports are based on information that has been sent to the Commission from the national customs administrations of member states. These annual reports by the Commission have been published since 2000 and are now part of the 2013-2017 EU Customs Action Plan. This Action Plan hopes to effectively implement and monitor new EU legislation covering customs enforcement of IPR. Furthermore it hopes to tackle the IPR infringing goods to prevent such suspect goods from entering the international supply chain. The Action Plan hopes to achieve this by strengthening cooperation with law enforcement authorities such as the European Observatory on the infringement of intellectual property rights. In June a Regulation on IPR enforcement at customs was adopted. This reinforces the Council’s Action Plan.

According to the 2012 annual report approximately 40 million products believed to be infringing IPR were detained by EU customs. In total the products were attributed a value of €1 billion. Despite these figures being lower than those for 2011 the 2012 figures are worryingly high and shows that more needs to be done to prevent IPR suspect goods from entering the European Union. Suspect cigarettes account for the greatest portion of the fake goods seized. The second largest portion of seized goods consisted of miscellaneous goods such as lamps, bottles, batteries and washing powder. Other suspect goods seized were packing materials. The Commission’s report also outlines where such fake goods are coming from and the means of transport used to carrying them. The majority of fake products originate in China. Approximately 64% of the detained goods came from China. However, specific fake products have been linked with specific countries. For example suspect foodstuff from Morocco, DVDs, CDs, tobacco products and electronics cigarettes from Hong Kong and finally packaging material from Bulgaria. An estimated 90% of the seized suspect products have been destroyed while the remainder has been detained and a court case and been initiated to determine whether or not there has been infringement. A number of different methods are used to get counterfeit goods into the European Union. The majority of the detained items (60%) arrived by post, approximately 18% of suspect goods were transported by plane while 8% arrived by express courier.

Tackling the infringement of property rights is crucial for the recovery of Europe’s economy. As outlined in the EU 2020 Strategy IPR are essential in advancing areas such as research, innovation and employment. It is also crucial for the health and safety of EU citizens. Suspect goods such as children’s toys, foodstuff and counterfeit medicines, which have been created in an environment below standard regulations, can present a serious risk to the health of European citizens. Such counterfeit products account for an estimated 12.7% of the confiscated goods. The decrease is the seizure of counterfeit goods from 115 million in 2011 to 40 million in 2012 illustrates the intensity with which EU customs is tackling the infringement of intellectual property rights. However, the use of the internet to purchase counterfeit goods, such as counterfeit medicines in particular, online is making it more difficult to crack down on counterfeit goods. This is adding to the high number of suspect good cases as it is more difficult for EU customs to regulate. After the annual report was released Commissioner for Taxation, Customs, Anti-Fraud and Audit, Algirdas Šemeta, stated he will continue to work to enhance the protection of intellectual property rights. It is hoped this can be achieved by increasing cooperation at an international and EU level. The new Regulation on IPR enforcement at customs is expected to come into force in January 2014. The Regulation should provide some welcomed improvements and will strengthen the current enforcement process.