Cigarettes comprised the third most frequently detained specific article at the EU’s borders during 2013, according to the commission’s annual report on customs actions to enforce intellectual property rights (IPR).
First place was taken by clothing, which accounted for 12.33 percent of the items detained, and next came medicines (10.10 percent).
Cigarettes accounted for 8.95 percent of detained articles, just ahead of packaging materials, 8.83 percent, and toys, 7.63 percent.
An “other goods” category of articles—distinct from the “all other category” (41.03 percent)—including items such as insecticides, shoe polish, light bulbs, glue, batteries, air refreshers and washing powder accounted for 11.13 percent of detained goods.
A commission press note on the report, which didn’t mention cigarettes or tobacco, said that customs authorities in the EU had detained almost 36 million items suspected of violating IPR.
Although this was fewer than the number of articles detained in previous years, the value of the intercepted goods had been more than €760 million.
“Postal and courier packages accounted for around 70 percent of customs interventions in 2013, with 19 percent of the detentions in postal traffic concerning medicines,” the press note said.
Around 90 percent of all detained goods were either destroyed or a court case was initiated to determine the infringement.
“China continues being the main source of fake products, with 66 percent of all products detained coming from China and 13 percent coming from Hong Kong.
“Other countries, however, were the top source for specific product categories, such as Turkey for perfumes and cosmetics and Egypt for foodstuffs.”
