The authorities secured a total of seven suspicious freight shipments from China between March 29 and May 9 2016 alone. According to the officials, the imitations destined for customers in Russia and Ukraine violated the brand rights of 137 companies, including sporting brands such as Adidas, Nike, and Puma, as well as luxury item producers such as Chanel, Dior, and Michael Kors.
The product assortment of the counterfeits included sunglasses, clothing, shoes, and handbags, as well as fake electronics such as cellphone chargers, tablet batteries, and headphones. The counterfeits have an estimated market value of 24.9 million euro, explained Albrecht Vieth, director of the main customs office in Frankfurt am Main.
The record confiscation was made possible by good cooperation between customs officials and the manufacturers of the original products, explained Detlev Schmidt, director of the customs office for freight. “Only detailed information provided by manufacturers makes it possible for customs officers to identify suspicious shipments as counterfeits even when they are only minimally different from the original products.” In this case, the officers received support from the companies‘ product experts, who quickly confirmed the suspicion of counterfeiting. The counterfeits are to be destroyed under the supervision of the customs authority.
