Slovak customs offices seized more than 310,000 items defined as forged goods in 2012, an increase of around 20 percent year-on-year, general director of the Financial Directorate's Tax and Customs Section Daniel Čech said at a press conference on Monday, February 18.
“The increase was primarily caused by the fact that the customs offices have been focusing on this matter very intensively,” said Čech as quoted by the TASR newswire. The overall value of the goods seized in 2012 reached €11.5 million. A distribution centre in Dunajská Streda – in the Trnava Region - was highlighted as the site at which fakes were most frequently detected. All big supplies of counterfeit goods from China and Turkey (where most of the fakes originate) infiltrate the Slovak market through this centre.
Among the most common fake goods are clothes, toys, consumer goods, alcohol and medications. Tommy Hilfiger, Luis Vuitton, Burberry, Adidas and Salomon are among the most-often forged brands seized in Slovakia. Customs officials also confiscated 3,580 chainsaws that were to be sold as Husquarna, 32,200 forged binoculars and more than 13 million cigarettes, most of them sold with fake Marlboro branding.
“This isn't just about violating the copyright laws, but also about evasion of excise tax, of course,” said Čech. Viagra and Ibuprofen dominated the 38,000 packages of forged medications. These could even pose dangers to human health, as some do not contain key ingredients, while others contain three times the amount stated on the label.
(Source: TASR)
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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