Faster Destruction of Seized Goods Without a Court Order

The Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection of the European Parliament has approved an agreement that facilitates the seizure, storage, and destruction of goods that infringe intellectual property rights by customs officials of the European Union.

The import of products that violate intellectual property rights is an increasing problem in the Union, especially due to the growing volume of goods that Union citizens purchase online and have delivered to their home addresses from countries outside the EU. Piracy and counterfeiting cost European businesses €250 billion a year in lost sales.
– The increasing trade in counterfeit goods not only threatens the growth of our economy and jobs but also poses significant risks to the health and safety of our consumers – said European Parliament member Jurgen Creutzmann.
He added that ‘customs officials at the external borders of the EU can somewhat stop counterfeit goods before they reach the internal market’, but that this new agreement will enable them to carry out that task more quickly and efficiently.

Accelerated Procedures The new regulation on customs protection of intellectual property rights aims to improve the efficiency of customs control to prevent the entry of illegal or dangerous products into the European Union while simultaneously establishing clear rules and procedures for the retention and destruction of the aforementioned goods and products. However, this regulation does not change the definition and rules of ‘IPR infringement’. Non-commercial products carried in personal luggage by travelers are still excluded from its scope.
The new rules will allow customs officials to work more quickly and efficiently through simplified procedures for the destruction of seized goods without a court order, provided that the owner of the infringed rights agrees, and their importer has no objections. A special procedure for smaller shipments of up to three kilograms will also expedite the destruction of counterfeit goods. The new rules set a deadline of ten days in which the importer of the given goods can file an objection before the goods are destroyed.

Destruction Costs In principle, the copyright owner who requests customs officials to enforce their rights would bear the costs of destroying the goods, although they would also have the right to seek compensation for those costs from the infringer of their rights or other parties, including intermediaries such as carriers, in accordance with national legislation. Furthermore, consumers who have purchased certain goods in good faith could not be considered guilty of infringing intellectual property rights.
The agreement emphasizes that customs officials must respect the international obligations undertaken by the European Union and that therefore medicines in transit can only be retained or seized if there is a ‘real possibility’ that they will end up on the market of the European Union.