A Russian Customs meeting outlined levels of counterfeiting affecting the country, and what it intends to do to stem the flow.
Lexology hosted a report from lawyers Gowling, Lafleur and Henderson LLP on the anti-counterfeiting event organised by Russian Customs in Krasnodar in early November, with the location a “main transportation hub” for the Black Sea and southern Russia. The meeting covered three branches of customs managing 117 customs points, 24 airports and seven sea ports between them, with borders including Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Georgia.
The meeting outlined the need to “raise awareness as to current counterfeiting problems” as well as highlight the fight against counterfeiting. OEMs from a variety of industries also attended, with details revealed including that 13.2 million counterfeit items were seized in 2015, a “significant increase” from 9.5 million in 2014, while 3,843 brands are registered with Russian Customs, a large leap from 2004, where only 404 were registered.
Also highlighted was that 728 cases had been opened concerning counterfeiting in 2015, which was only half of the number opened in 2014, with the legal firm concluding that “customs inspections and controls are more effective to stop counterfeited goods immediately at the border”. However, counterfeiting remains “an acute problem” in Russia, with one OEM present stating that it had “over 100,000 counterfeited articles” seized in southern Russia alone this year.
Other challenges include relabelling and repackaging, as labels and packaging are brought into Russia separately to “evade detection”, and then attached to unbranded goods. Russian Customs also shared that “typical counterfeiting routes” include China, southeast Asia, Turkey and the CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) nations, while the UAE and Egypt were also sources of “illicit imports”.