Europol & European Intellectual Property Office: Most Seized Packaging Materials are Associated with Tobacco Products
From: A Joint Project between Europol and the European Union Intellectual Property Office
2017 Situation Report on Counterfeiting and Piracy in the European Union
Regarding product types, the top categories of detained articles at the external borders in 2015 were cigarettes, which accounted for 27 % of the overall amount of detained articles. . . .
The financial implications of IPR crime aside, counterfeits almost always represent some form of risk to consumer welfare, because there are invariably scant quality controls or certification protocols in place during manufacture. This affects the tobacco, food or pharmaceutical industries, but also has less obvious consequences in the form of the health dangers associated with substandard (flammable) clothing, dangerous toys, inferior sports shoes or ineffective sunglasses, all of which, if used in good faith, threaten end users with potentially serious and ongoing health risks. IPR crime also affects the environment. Counterfeit pesticides often contain toxic substances that may contaminate soil, water and food.
However, most seizures of packaging materials were of items associated with tobacco products (74 % of units recovered).
The majority of this packaging was stopped at the United Kingdom, the Netherlands or French borders and was recorded as having originated predominantly from China and Hong Kong. Large numbers of branded counterfeit tobacco pouches are manufactured in China and Hong Kong, but possibly not the counterfeit tobacco itself. This could be shipped separately as an unbranded product, manifested as a non-IPR-infringing import, and therefore not be liable to seizure.
See the complete 2017 Situation Report on Counterfeiting and Piracy in the European Union, attached here.
