GACG contributes and distributes international publications, policy papers and studies, which focus on counterfeiting and illicit trade.
August 12, 2024
Food fraud resilience self-assessment tool
The Food Standards Agency’s National Food Crime Unit (NFCU) have developed this Food Fraud Resilience Self-Assessment Tool to provide support, guidance, and advice to food businesses on food fraud. We define food crime as serious fraud and related criminality in food supply chains. This definition also includes activity impacting on drink and animal feed. This tool will increase your awareness of and resilience to food crime. It will help you to evaluate your business and may identify areas for improvement while providing you with advice for countering food fraud. The tool is just one of several ways in which we can offer you support and assistance in preventing food fraud. The tool should take no more than 20 minutes to complete.
June 26, 2024
World Customs Organization Releases Illicit Trade Report 2023
The World Customs Organization (WCO) announces the release of the Illicit Trade Report 2023, a comprehensive analysis of the current state and evolving trends of illicit trade. This year’s report underscores the relentless challenges posed by illicit trade in an increasingly globalized world, highlighting its detrimental impact on legitimate markets, public trust, and the financing of criminal enterprises.
The report covers several critical areas for enforcement activities, including drugs, the environment, cultural heritage, money laundering and terrorist financing, intellectual property rights, health and safety, revenue and security. Each of these areas presents unique challenges that require tailored enforcement strategies to effectively combat.
April 15, 2024
EMPACT Intellectual Property Owner Guide to Criminal Referrals in Intellectual Property Crime Cases
This EMPACT Intellectual Property (IP) Guide to Criminal Referrals in IP Crime Cases is a practical guide for IP owners to efficiently refer cases of IP infringement for criminal investigation. It aims to provide a clear pathway for IP owners to engage with investigating authorities for criminal enforcement of IP crimes, particularly focusing on serious and organised crimes involving trade marks, copyright and trade secrets. The guide offers specialised advice that can be applied to these common types of IP as well as other IP, and describes the role of IP owners during the investigation and prosecution phases. The guide includes practical checklists for reporting the outlined IP crimes and aims to standardise the criminal referral process to facilitate efficient and effective investigations.
March 19, 2024
EUROPEAN COMMISSION RECOMMENDATION on measures to combat counterfeiting and enhance the enforcement of intellectual property rights
Marking a significant advancement in the enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) within the EU, the European Commission today adopted a Recommendation aimed at curbing counterfeiting activities, both online and offline.
The Recommendation consists of strategic initiatives to combat counterfeiting and strengthen the enforcement of intellectual property rights, setting out dedicated tools to increase companies’ resilience and ability to better protect their intangible assets, including against cyber-theft.
This initiative, a deliverable of the European Commission’s 2020 Intellectual Property Action Plan, builds upon the expertise and groundwork laid by the EUIPO, particularly through the European Observatory on Infringements of Intellectual Property Rights (EUIPO Observatory), which facilitated a series of workshops engaging relevant stakeholders.
March 1, 2024
TRACIT – Money Talks: The Crooked Connection Between Corruption and Illicit Trade
A new report finds that corruption is affecting illicit trade worldwide. There is not a single sector of illicit trade that is not tainted by corruption, including agrifoods, alcohol, IUU fishing, forced labor, timber, or wildlife, pharmaceuticals, pesticides, precious metals, gemstones, tobacco products, petroleum, or counterfeiting.
February 1, 2024
USTR Releases 2023 Review of Notorious Markets for Counterfeiting and Piracy
The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) today released the findings of its 2023 Review of Notorious Markets for Counterfeiting and Piracy (the Notorious Markets List). The Notorious Markets List highlights online and physical markets that reportedly engage in or facilitate substantial trademark counterfeiting or copyright piracy…
January 1, 2024
MSU – GLOBAL ANTI-COUNTERFEITING CONSUMER SURVEY 2023
Trademark counterfeiting (hereinafter “counterfeiting”) is a prevalent global risk. A survey of consumers from 17 countries (N = 13,053), conducted in seven languages, examined the prevalence of counterfeit purchase behaviors and what predicts past purchase and future purchase intentions. Our approach was informed by three theoretical lenses to explain counterfeit purchase: motivations, theory of planned behavior, and protection motivation theory…
December 14, 2023
Safety Gate: the EU rapid alert system for dangerous non-food products
The Safety Gate system enables that information on measures taken against non-food dangerous products is circulated quickly among the national authorities responsible for product safety in the Single Market countries. Every day, national authorities send alerts to the Safety Gate. Each alert contains information on the kind of product detected as dangerous, a description of the risk and the measures taken by the economic operator or ordered by the authority. Every alert is followed-up by the other authorities, which take their own measures if they find the same product in their own national markets. Other countries have the obligation to follow up this information and if they find the same product on their own markets, they have to share this information on Safety Gate as well.
October 1, 2023
Europol – The Other Side of the Coin – Analysis of Financial and Economic Crime
This is the latest flagship product in Europol’s portfolio, a
comprehensive and in-depth assessment of the threats posed by financial and
economic crimes at EU level…
July 20, 2023
OECD and EUIPO – Why Do Countries Import Fakes?
Linkages and Correlations with Main Socio-Economic Indicators. This report looks at the demand for counterfeit goods and identifies its key drivers. It discusses the specificity of the demand for counterfeit goods, including both deliberate and unintentional demand. Indeed, some consumers will deliberately buy counterfeit and pirated goods while others will be deceived into buying illicit products, thinking they are genuine. The report also examines the profiles of destination economies in the global trade of counterfeit and pirated goods…
July 1, 2023
FICCI CASCADE – HIDDEN STREAMS : LINKAGES BETWEEN ILLICIT MARKETS, FINANCIAL FLOWS, ORGANIZED CRIME AND TERRORISM
FICCI CASCADE’s study titled “Hidden Streams: Linkages between Illicit Markets, Financial Flows, Organized Crime, and Terrorism” employs a rigorous research
approach to unveil hidden layers and establish connections between the illicit economy, organized crime, and terrorism…
May 24, 2023
Eurojust and intellectual property crimes in 2022
Throughout 2022, the IP Crime Project released a number of publications that address key issues and provide legislative updates to help strengthen practitioners’ knowledge of the legal aspects of IP crimes. The 2022 publications cover a wide range of topics, and provide legal analysis and practical knowledge that legal practitioners can apply to their IP investigations and prosecutions.
May 4, 2023
INTA – Anticounterfeiting Benchmarking Report
Designed for both in-house and outside council, the Anticounterfeiting Benchmarking Report provides deep insight into brand owners’ anticounterfeiting strategies and resourcing. Illustrated through personal insights, as well as aggregated data, the Report is also among the first data-driven attempts to quantify the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on counterfeiting and hones in on the impact of the pandemic.
January 31, 2023
OECD and EUIPO – Risks of Illicit Trade in Counterfeits to Small and Medium-Sized Firms
Illicit trade in counterfeit goods causes economic damage by reducing sales and profits as well as innovation incentives in legitimate industries. This study looks at damages caused by illicit trade in counterfeits to small and medium-sized enterprises. The robust evidence on the magnitude, scope and trends of this risk informs policy makers about the need to include anti-counterfeiting elements in policy packages designed to support SMEs…
June 16, 2022
OECD – Illicit Trade in High-Risk Sectors
Implications of Illicit Alcohol for Public Health and Criminal Networks
Trade in illicit alcohol products is an attractive target for organised crime, as both the market and potential profits are large, in some cases requiring little investment. The illicit alcohol trade not only fuels criminal networks, but also poses significant risks to public health and safety…