The same study reports that the Chinese customs authority confiscated roughly 24,000 suspicious shipments in 2014 (see our German-language report), but that these were merely the tip of the iceberg. Particularly the flow of illegal goods from China to Southeast Asia is nearly uncontrollable. This is due to the frequently remote transport routes, corruption among public servants, and a lack of anti-counterfeiting measures in the destination countries. By way of Laos, Myanmar or Vietnam, counterfeits from China can generally reach Thailand unimpeded, where they can then reach the rest of the world by sea, for example.
Booming e-commerce also makes the struggle against brand piracy more difficult, according to the study. Numerous counterfeits – medicines and luxury goods, for example – are meanwhile being sent by mail in smaller packages directly to the end customer, most often arriving without being discovered by customs. Transnational, networked counterfeit production also makes law enforcement more difficult. Counterfeits manufactured in Southeast Asia, for example, are sometimes delivered in deceptively genuine packaging sourced from China.
Among other measures, the study advises businesses operating in China and Southeast Asia to work closely with the Chinese customs authorities. For example by offering targeting trainings in which they help customs investigators take measures against counterfeits of their products.
The study, published in December, was carried out by the intellectual property firm Rouse on behalf of the British Foreign & Commonwealth Office and the Intellectual Property Office. Research into the Chinese and Southeast Asian markets as well as interviews with British brand owners formed the empirical basis of the study.
