New agreement between World Customs Organisation and Certilogo network means easier product verification.
Intellectual Property Watch reported that Brussels-based World Customs Organisation (WCO) has “updated its online tool for field customs officers to communicate in real time with rights holders on counterfeiting of their brands” through partnering with the network Certilogo.
Certilogo, which is now connected to the WCO IPM system, is able to provide “authentication and traceability technologies” and brings an additional 30 “top brands” to the system, which was launched in 2013.
The IPM system, according to the WCO, allows “mobile capability and the possibility to interface IPM with partner companies […] that already provide authentication and/or traceability solutions”, such as Certilogo.
The WCO stated: “Using a mobile device field Customs officers can instantly verify a product’s authenticity simply by scanning the barcode or any track and trace solution and IPM will automatically launch the authentication application.
“Thanks to the new agreement with Certilogo, more than 80 customs administrations and thousands of customs officers can now check the authenticity of goods crossing borders and carrying a Certilogo code.”
According to the WCO, which is “encouraging more such partnerships”, 700,000 authentications have been performed by Certilogo customers from over 100 countries, with the company’s platform designed to collect “data from each interaction to spot fakes, identify fake sellers, highlight security leaks in the supply chain, monitor parallel markets and keep e-marketplaces clean from counterfeits”.