The assessment by EU Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) carried out based on data from almost half a million customs seizures by international enforcement agencies highlights the following:
- Global sales of counterfeit and pirated goods have increased to USD 522 billion a year, amounting to a whopping 3.3 per cent of world trade.
- The share of counterfeit goods has witnessed a considerable rise since its previous 2016 estimate of 2.5 per cent of global trade.
- Counterfeit goods represented 121 billion Euros worth of imports into the European Union alone which amounted for a massive 6.8 per cent of total imports into the bloc, up from five per cent in 2016.
- Counterfeiting and piracy posed a major threat to innovation and economic growth, at both EU and global level.
- Companies which were most affected by counterfeiting and piracy were mainly based in developed OECD nations like the United States, Japan, South Korea and EU states.
- Even businesses in China, Brazil and Hong Kong are being increasingly hit.
- Countries exporting the most counterfeit and pirated goods were China, Hong Kong, United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Singapore, Thailand, India and Malaysia.
The EUIPO has expressed deep concerns about the rise in the counterfeit and pirated goods and called for coordinated action, at all levels, to fully tackle the menace of piracy and counterfeit products.