A French customs officer stands near seized counterfeit items. (Credit: Anne-Christine Poujoulat/AFP)
Counterfeiting constitutes an "essential source of funding for organized crime," notably for Hezbollah, and affects all products, from contact lenses to toys and automotive spare parts, warned the Union of French Manufacturers (Unifab) on Monday, calling for coordinated action.
The Italian Camorra, Chinese Triads, Hezbollah, Mexican cartels and the North Korean regime, among others, use it both to launder money and to fund their activities, asserts Unifab, an association for the defense and promotion of intellectual property, in a report.
"What consumers need to understand is that buying a counterfeit is no longer like in the 1980s; it is no longer a harmless act," commented Delphine Sarfati-Sobreira, general director of Unifab and president of the Global Anti-Counterfeiting Group (GACG). "Today, buying a counterfeit is financing a criminal network; it is condoning all the barbaric acts we condemn," she added.
However, the report points out that "unlike drug or arms trafficking, which are subject to severe penalties, counterfeiting operates in a still too lax legal framework, allowing criminals considerable leeway." Counterfeit products affect all sectors: textiles, cosmetics, toys, electronics, food and alcohol, automotive and industrial parts.
"More than a third of consumers ... thought the product was authentic," highlights Sobreira, citing an IFOP study. Yet, consumers "risk a lot, ... for their health, for their safety." Hygiene products causing burns, unchecked automotive parts, watches equipped with needles coated in radioactive materials, "because that's what costs the least," examples are plentiful, she warns.
"The rise of online commerce and social networks has amplified this threat," and "counterfeiting now enjoys unabashed promotion, orchestrated by certain influencers," says Unifab.
The organization regrets that "the legal framework struggles to adapt to the rapid expansion of online commerce," that international cooperation "remains too fragmented," and that consumers "continue to fuel this market."
Unifab calls for "a global, coordinated, and offensive response," with "a concerted strategy mobilizing all actors, states, businesses, judicial authorities, digital platforms, enforcement services and consumers themselves."
According to OECD figures cited by Unifab, counterfeiting represents 2.5 percent of global trade.
