The North-West Electronic Customs Department held a seminar on the protection of intellectual property rights in the context of parallel imports.
Officers of North-West Electronic, Pulkovo, Baltic and St. Petersburg Customs together with representatives of right holders discussed topical issues of determining counterfeit goods under conditions of parallel imports, when fake goods may be disguised under the guise of well-known trademarks
Representatives of right holders told about registered trademarks of companies and distinguishing features of original products from counterfeit ones, about production sites of goods and places of their official sale, as well as about judicial practice, established in terms of detection of counterfeit goods
In turn, Anna Kupyanskaya, head of the department of trade restrictions, export control and protection of intellectual property rights of the North-West Electronic Customs Service, noted that unscrupulous importers are currently using various schemes to evade customs control
– With the introduction of parallel imports, the number of detected counterfeit goods in the North-West Electronic Customs has not only not decreased, but on the contrary, increased, which indicates the increased attempts of unscrupulous importers to disguise counterfeit goods as original products. Thus, for 2022 customs initiated 47 cases of administrative offenses in the direction of intellectual property protection, for 2023 – 52 cases, and for less than 4 months of 2024 – already 17 cases – explained Anna Kupyanskaya. <Taking action against counterfeit goods is a complex work that requires the professionalism of all customs officials – from the stage of their detection at customs posts (e-declaration centers) and customs offices of actual control to the staff of administrative investigation departments, which are responsible for legal proceedings against such goods
In the changing conditions for establishing signs of counterfeit products, customs expert examinations of goods are becoming particularly relevant, based on the results of which it is established whether the goods are counterfeit and cases on administrative offenses are initiated. Inna Mikshina, the head of the department of forensic examinations of the Expert Forensic Service – regional branch of CECTU in St. Petersburg, pointed out the need for experts to obtain as complete and high-quality materials as possible, revealing the main features of the original, in order to compare them with samples of products with signs of counterfeiting
The seminar widely discussed the issues of detecting counterfeiting at the stage of preliminary operations, i.e. before the goods declaration is submitted to the customs authority. Representatives of customs offices of actual control shared their methods of searching for such goods, as well as exchanged opinions with representatives of right holders in terms of identifying the most common signs of counterfeiting at the stage of inspection of the goods lot
Participants of the training seminar discussed new opportunities to protect consumer goods brands belonging to high-risk groups: perfumes, cosmetics, tobacco and alcoholic beverages, haberdashery, accessories, clothing and footwear of well-known brands.
Customs and Customs officers discussed new opportunities to protect consumer goods brands belonging to high-risk groups: perfumes, cosmetics, tobacco and alcoholic beverages, haberdashery, accessories, clothing and footwear of well-known brands
Customs officials and representatives of rights holders have indicated an interest in further cooperation to improve the effectiveness of anti-counterfeiting efforts, as well as to speed up the time it takes to check goods with signs of counterfeiting.
Public Relations Department of the NWTU