Europe 1 with AFP / Photo credit: VALERY HACHE / AFP 12:51 p.m., March 1, 2024
According to Minister for Public Accounts Thomas Cazenave, more than 20 million counterfeits will have been removed from the French market in 2023. The number of seizures has almost doubled compared to the previous year to reach a “historic, record” level.
In detail, games, toys and sporting goods top the list of counterfeit products seized in France.
More than 20 million counterfeits have been withdrawn from the French market in 2023, a “historic, record” number of seizures which has “almost doubled” compared to the previous year, the Minister for Accounts announced to AFP on Thursday. public Thomas Cazenave.
“The doubling of seizures reflects the effectiveness of our response (..) and that we are facing an increase in counterfeit products,” commented the Minister Delegate to AFP.
Games, toys and sporting goods in mind
Thomas Cazenave will travel this Friday to Aulnay-Sous-Bois (Seine-Saint-Denis) to present the new national plan to combat counterfeiting for the period 2024-2026 and take stock of 2023. "Counterfeiting is a form of triple punishment", declared Thomas Cazenave to AFP, "an economic problem with injured companies and tax revenue not collected" as well as a "health subject" while one of the first categories of counterfeit products concerns toys.
It is also "a security issue", this traffic "feeding criminal, mafia and terrorist networks", further underlined the delegate minister.
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In detail, games, toys and sporting goods top the list of counterfeit products seized in France (more than 8 million in 2023), according to the document presenting the national anti-counterfeiting plan 2024-2026.
Then follow packaging items (alcohol bottles, cartons of perfume bottles, etc. around 4.7 million seizures) then food and drinks, personal care products, clothing and accessories (more than 'one million for each category).
“New deal in counterfeiting”
The Minister Delegate spoke of “the new situation of counterfeiting” which is “developing a lot in online commerce”.
Another point of vigilance for the government: “new counterfeiting chains with workshops on our national territory”.
The new national plan to combat counterfeiting is presented "in a particular context", that of the Olympic Games, "which represent a challenge in terms of counterfeiting" of all products linked to the sporting event, said the minister.
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Joint studies by the OECD and the EUIPO (European Union Intellectual Property Office) “estimate at around 5% the share of imports into the European Union relating to counterfeit goods”, according to the national plan anti-counterfeiting 2024-2026.