By and large most customs services do an excellent
job but they are constantly hampered by lack of resources, both human and financial,
and have a range of different priorities to contend with. Combating the traffic
in narcotics is of course one of the main tasks that customs services are charged
with and, until relatively recently, intercepting counterfeit goods did not
feature too highly in the overall list of priorities.
Two years ago we reported on the predicament of
customs at Antwerp Europe’s second largest port and mentioned the immense
logistical problems. Every day 2000 to 3000 containers pass through the port
yet there are only six inspectors to check them and they are on the look out
not only for counterfeits but drugs weapons and protected species. Only one
out of every hundred containers are checked and the cost of this exercise equates
to US$500 per container. This illustrates the enormity of the task facing customs.
Despite the logistical problems, over the past
decade there has been a sea change in the way in which customs respond to counterfeit
goods. This has been brought about by a number of factors, including a growing
awareness of the scale of the counterfeiting problem and its connections with
organised crime, and concerted pressure from industry to do more to attack the
cross border traffic in counterfeit and pirated goods. Added to this customs
services in the EU have been forced to re-appraise their role with the scaling
down of internal border controls and look at different ways of re-deploying
their manpower. The finalization of the Uruguay Round of GATT negotiations and
the TRIPS agreement have consolidated the situation by giving clear direction
to what the future role of customs should be in terms of intellectual property
rights (IPR) border enforcement.<
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The World Customs Organisation (WCO) has been active
in providing its 145 member customs administrations with the tools to facilitate
effective IPR protection at international borders. These include:
- Model legislation providing customs services
with appropriate powers to assist in fighting counterfeiting and piracy
- The adoption by the WCO Council of a formal
Recommendation on IPR
- Forging close relationships with rights owners
and international business organisations by creating a formal IPR programme
which is financially supported by these groups.
- Entering into Memoranda of Understanding with
industry groups, including The International Federation for the Phonogram
Industry (IFPI) and the Counterfeiting Intelligence Bureau aimed at generating
closer links between customs and commerce.
- The creation of a WCO IPR database and the dissemination
of information in bulletins and alerts.
- The production of a customs IPR awareness video
and the development of a technical assistance programme.
Without doubt the WCO initiative in building bridges
with industry has done a great deal to improve awareness and enforcement. Already
more than 26 business groups and companies have donated more than US$250,000
to the WCO’s activities in the IPR field. Much of these resources have
been devoted to training missions aimed at educating different customs administrations
in how to recognise counterfeit products and awareness programmes, including
leaflets and a video on counterfeiting. More than twelve IPR customs training
missions have been carried out and three are planned for this year in Mexico,
Bulgaria and the Russian Federation.
A further important customs initiative involves
the creation of a database called MUSYC (Multi Media Systems for Customs). This
is a project supported by the European Commission in which a number of European
customs administrations are working together to create multimedia facilities
for customs officers so that they can identify counterfeiting on the spot using
images of genuine and counterfeited products.
The WCO are also compiling a technical manual for
use by operational customs staff. This will contain legal provisions, rights
holders contact points, commonly encountered risk indicators and means of identifying
genuine products from fake ones.
A strong lead has been provided by the WCO initiatives
which can only be applauded, it is now up to rights owners to build on the links
that have been forged and ensure an ever more effective partnership between
governments and industry in stemming the illicit traffic in counterfeit goods.