China Customs awarded for anti-counterfeit, piracy efforts

BEIJING, Sept. 5 (Xinhua) -- The World Customs Organization (WCO) has for the first time awarded China Customs for their contribution in fighting against counterfeit goods and piracy, according to the General Administration of Customs (GAC).

A total of 5,332 companies had filed applications to China Customs for the protection of 11,352 intellectual property rights by the end of August, it stated.

China Customs authorities uncovered more than 8,400 infringement cases valuing more than 1 billion yuan (132.4 million U.S. dollars) from 1995 to the end of March this year.

The number of infringement cases uncovered by China Customs has been growing at an annual rate of around 30 percent since 2000, the GAC said.

In January, 15 Chinese customs officers were awarded by the WCO for their excellent performance in intellectual property rights protection.