Serbian Customs: 1.5 Million Items Waiting to be Destroyed

The Serbian Customs Administration has recently pointed out that there are around 1.5 million seized, counterfeit items that have accumulated in Customs’ warehouses over the last few years which fulfill legal requirements to be destroyed.

Million pairs of sneakers are currently waiting to be destroyed, as well as 320,000 clothing items, 104,000 perfumes and cosmetic products, 42,000 toys, 5600 car parts, 44,000 mobile phone parts and accessories, 12,300 eyeglasses and 22,600 lighters.

In the last few years, the Serbian Customs have been actively making seizures under the provisions for the enforcement of intellectual property rights contained in the Customs Law that came into force on January 1, 2004. Since then, the customs authorities have interrupted the import, export or the transit of goods through Serbia around 5,000 times; on 142 occasions in the first three months of this year alone.

Twelve destructions of counterfeit goods have taken place since 2006, during which a total of 62,000 pairs of athletic shoes, 9650 kg of textile goods, 2400 kg of non-precious jewelry and 457 car parts were destroyed.

The most prevalent counterfeit goods are athletic shoes, apparel, cosmetic products, perfumes, cell phone parts and accessories and car parts.

The most commonly copied car parts bear the marks of Toyota, Honda, Renault, Fiat and Opel, while the clothing items bear the marks of Nike, Reebok, Puma, Adidas and Prada.

An increase in counterfeit children’s toys was noted in 2009, particularly counterfeit notebook stickers bearing Barbie and Disney labels and toy cars and trucks bearing the marks of Honda, BMW and Toyota.

For more information, please contact Jelena Jankovic at our Balkan Regional Office.

Source: Serbian Customs