Nearly 36 mln fake goods detained at borders in 2013: EU

The customs authorities in the European Union (EU) detained almost 36 million items suspected of violating intellectual property rights (IPR) in 2013, said the European Commission on Thursday.

The value of the intercepted goods exceeded 760 million euros (1.02 billion U.S. dollars), less than previous years, according to the EU's annual report on customs actions to enforce IPR.

Clothing and medicines were among the top categories of goods detained. 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. Around 90 percent of all detained goods were either destroyed or a court case was initiated to determine the infringement.

Some countries were the top source for specific product categories, such as Turkey for perfumes and cosmetics and Egypt for foodstuffs.

"Protecting intellectual property rights is not only important for health and safety of European consumers, but also supports growth and job creation in the EU. The figures in today's report show that counterfeiting afflicts all products and that customs authorities do a good job intercepting fakes," said Algirdas Semeta, the European Commissioner for Taxation, Customs, Anti-fraud and Audit.