Namaakproducten risico voor consumenten (en)

Consumer safety is under attack from a growing number of counterfeit products that are not checked for conformity with safety standards.

The problem was illustrated recently in cases where counterfeit mobile phone batteries exploded.

New figures published by the European Commission today (24 November) showed that customs seized some 85 million counterfeit or pirated articles at the EU's external border in 2002 and 50 million in the first half of 2003.

Counterfeiters are no longer confining their activities to luxury goods but increasingly turning their attention to consumer goods, including foods, medicines, mobile phones and batteries, according to the Commission.

"We are increasingly finding ourselves seizing everyday products: tea, spinning tops, mobile phones. These products are dangerous because there is no guarantee that they meet safety standards", said the EU commissioner in charge of customs, Frits Bolkestein.

The majority of counterfeit goods (66%) seized in 2002 came from Asia (Thailand and China in particular).

A seminar on customs action against counterfeiting and piracy held in Brussels in October agreed to set up a "strike force" of frontline customs officials to identify practical solutions and to help the acceding countries combat this form of trafficking.