The “Illicit Trade Environment Index“ study by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) and the European Chamber of Commerce in Singapore (EuroCham SG) investigated 17 economic areas. In the study, only Australia and New Zealand were rated more positively in the all-around evaluation than Hong Kong. The rankings were determined by evaluations of the four key areas of intellectual property, trade and transparency, customs environment, as well as supply and demand.
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The good performance of Hong Kong is surprising insofar as the Chinese special administrative region is responsible for some 14% of worldwide counterfeit trade, according to a study of the US Chamber of Commerce published in June this year. Hong Kong also appears in the 2015 EU customs statistics as one of the top countries of origin for confiscated counterfeits (we reported). Nonetheless, the third place is allegedly well-earned: Numerous domestic political guidelines and institutions are claimed to have drastically improved in the past years.
“Hong Kong has actually become a place which consumers see as a destination for purchasing a wide selection of genuine products,” says Henry Wheare, counsel at the law firm Hogan Lovells. “This organically drives down demand for illicit products while, at the same time, a stronger enforcement regime has helped to restrict the supply of fake goods.”
The reason for Hong Kong’s continued poor reputation could be its close trade relationships with China, which ranked much more poorly than its special administrative region.
