Illegal drugs top Customs’ fake goods seizures

Illicit medicines made up the bulk of seizures by customs enforcement agencies targeting intellectual property rights (IPR) breaches worldwide in 2013. The World Customs Organization’s (WCO) latest Illicit Trade
Report shows a worrying trend where more than half of the reported interceptions were illicit pharmaceutical products, a massive 2.3 billion pieces or 76.4% of goods seized. They were worth some US$19 million. This was followed by counterfeit electronic appliances and illicit foodstuffs – all of which threaten consumer health and safety, warns WCO.

“It is a dramatic change compared to 2012, where the majority of intercepted commodities were accessories, followed by clothing and pharmaceutical products which came in a third position,” says WCO. The organization however acknowledged that the outcome reflected the outstanding results obtained by countries in West and South Africa during operation Biyela, mainly aimed at targeting and intercepting illicit medicines. The report provides a comparative analysis of trends and patterns in five key risk areas of enforcement, based on Customs seizures reported through the WCO Customs Enforcement Network database by its members.

 It aims to raise awareness on emerging threats, highlight Customs efforts and contribute to the pool of information for studying the phenomenon of illegal trade. In terms of brand counterfeiting, WCO said seizures in 2013 included a diverse range of makes, amounting to over 1,000 different trademarks. Nike was the most counterfeited brand last year, in 2012 it was Cialis. Other top faked brands by number of cases in 2013 were Apple, Rolex, Samsung and Adidas.