The Minister of Public Accounts, Thomas Cazenave, presented on Friday the axes of the new national “anti-counterfeiting” plan for 2024-2026, while according to him they risk “multiplying” before the Olympic Games.
Twenty million objects were seized in 2023, compared to eleven million in 2022: this growth demonstrates the “efficiency” of customs officers but also “that the phenomenon continues to develop”, estimated Mr. Cazenave after a visit to the brigade internal surveillance of Aulnay-Sous-Bois customs (Seine-Saint-Denis).
He was concerned about the dangerousness of certain counterfeits, such as toys.
The government wants to draw up “a map of counterfeiting hot spots” to carry out “striking actions”, the minister explained to journalists during this visit.
These actions should mobilize “all state services”, police, gendarmerie or the Competition and Fraud Repression Department.
He called for increased cooperation with the national anti-counterfeiting committee chaired by Modem MP Christophe Blanchet or the Union of Manufacturers (Unifab), which defends the intellectual property of the latter.
The president of Unifab Christian Peugeot praised in a press release a “perfect collaboration between companies and public authorities” on this subject.
Bercy also wants to allow individuals to report points of sale on the street, via a dedicated email address and telephone number.
To “strengthen control of online commerce” through which many counterfeit products pass, “70 cyber customs officers will be deployed, with new prerogatives,” according to the minister.
From April, they will be able to launch “digital injunctions” to “clean up the market” by asking an online platform to delist a suspicious seller.
Customs officers will also be able to carry out “purchasing raids” under a pseudonym on the internet, acquiring the objects in dispute to better prove that they are fake.
Mr. Cazenave also advocated “agreements” for the exchange of information with online commerce platforms.
He considered it all the more important to relaunch this fight as the Olympic Games generate a “risk of increasing sales of counterfeit products”.
He was also concerned about “Made in France” counterfeiting: we are increasingly seeing the elements of future counterfeiting arrive separately, to be assembled there, for example “cardboards bearing the name of major brands of perfume, bottle caps, and cans of products” imitating these perfumes.