Last year, Customs authorities in the European Union detained around 36 million items which were suspected of violating intellectual property rights (IPR). This information was recently published in the European Commission’s annual report on Customs actions to enforce IPR, entitled Report on EU Customs Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights − Results at the EU border 2013.
Intellectual property rights are the rights given to inventors over the creation of their minds. They usually give the creators an exclusive right over the use of their creations for a certain period of time.
With the implementation of Directive 2004/48/EC, commonly known as the Enforcement Directive, the EU aims at protecting creativity and innovation in order to foster economic growth while simultaneously creating and protecting millions of jobs. The Directive requires all member states to apply proportionate and effective remedies and penalties against those engaged in piracy and counterfeiting, therefore creating a level playing field for right holders in the EU. This also means that all member states have a similar set of measures, procedures and remedies available for right holders to defend their IPR if they are infringed (be they copyright or related rights, trademarks, patents, designs, etc.). Since 2004, specific provisions provided for the submission of information by member states on the detentions made and applications for action lodged by IPR holders.
When launching the publication of the Report for 2013, Algirdas Šemeta, European Commissioner for Taxation, Customs, Anti-fraud and Audit stated: “Protecting IPR is not only important for the health and safety of European consumers but also supports growth and job creation in the EU.”
The Report provides the opportunity of measuring the scale of customs actions in order to enforce IPR since this is a priority for the Commission and the member states. In 2013, Customs authorities opened almost 87,000 detention cases for a total of nearly 36 million articles. The domestic retail value of the detained articles represented €768m. In 2012, almost 40 million articles were detained and this amount has been lowered to 36 million in 2013. The total domestic retail value of these products was around €768m in 2013.
China remains the top country of origin for goods suspected of infringing an IPR. Other countries include Egypt for foodstuffs and Turkey for perfumes and cosmetics. Among the variety of products, the report includes alcoholic beverages, clothing, personal accessories, mobile phones, toys and also tobacco products. Clothing items accounted for 12% of the overall amount of detained goods, followed by other goods (11%), medicines (10%), cigarettes (9%), packaging materials (9%) and toys (8%).
Right-holders have the right to lodge an application for action requesting Customs authorities to take action in cases where a suspicion of a possible IPR infringement exists. Applications for actions can be requested on a national or on an EU basis. The Report shows that actions have increased over the years. While 10,260 applications were submitted in 2007, in 2013 the number almost tripled to reach 26,865. EU Customs authorities also have the power to act ex-officio if there is a suspicion of an IPR infringement.
Between 2012 and 2013, Malta had a 16% increase in the number of cases: with 118 cases in 2012 and 137 cases throughout 2013. However, the number of items was reduced, from more than 6 million items in 2012 to less than 2 million items in 2013. Being one of the most economically stable countries in the EU, Germany experienced a 9% decrease in the number of cases between 2012 and 2013. A 22% increase was noted in the number of articles – from almost 2.5 million in 2012 up to 3 million in 2013.
On 1 January, a new Regulation on IPR entered into force, with the aim of strengthening the role of Customs authorities in the interception and the destruction of counterfeit goods entering, or in transit through, EU territory. In relation to previous regulations, the scope of the latest regulation was widened and will henceforth include the protection of numerous trade names as well as the inclusion of the monitoring of small consignments to cover the growing number of counterfeit goods sent by postal services.