New EU regulation to stop counterfeit goods

On 24 January 2013 the European Parliament’s standing committee on Internal Market and Consumer Protection, IMCO, gave its backing to a new regulation. The new regulation gives the customs authorities an increased mandate to tackle suspected counterfeit goods that make their way into the EU.

The new regulation, Regulation 5129/2013/EC, will replace the previous regulation on counterfeit goods (1383/2003/EC) and forms part of a wider IP strategy within the EU. The new initiative increases the number of IP areas that the customs authorities may clamp down on, and it permits smaller consignments of fake goods to the destroyed. However, the regulation does not cover suspected counterfeit goods that are merely in transit through the EU.

The changes are expected to come into effect in all EU countries on 1 January 2014.