BOC: P21.3B worth of fake goods seized from January-July

The Bureau of Customs (BOC) has seized over P20 billion worth of counterfeit goods since January this year as the agency intensifies its anti-counterfeiting and trademark protection initiatives.

In a news release, the BOC said Customs Commissioner Bienvenido Rubio was invited to speak at the Asia Security Conference Exhibition held in Singapore on Wednesday.

In his speech, Rubio said that from January 1 to July 14, 2023, the bureau confiscated P21.3 billion or $387.2 million worth of counterfeit goods throughout its 219 operations. 

"The BOC’s Customs Intelligence Group played a crucial role in establishing strong partnerships with law enforcement agencies, trade owners, and stakeholders, which greatly contributed to these remarkable outcomes," said Rubio.

The BOC chief also highlighted the Customs’ strides in the field of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) protection.

Rubio said the Philippines has maintained a clean record for 10 years in the United States Trade Representative's (USTR) Special 301 Report. 

The report evaluates countries with intellectual property issues. 

He added that "the Philippines was recently delisted from the priority watch list of the European Union (EU) for the first time in the ‘Report on the Protection and Enforcement of IPR in Third Countries’."

"This means that the country has been doing well in terms of protecting intellectual property rights," the BOC chief said.

While acknowledging these achievements, Rubio also recognized the challenges ahead. 

The BOC chief cited two major challenges, namely the need for efficient trade facilitation through brand certification/verification by brand owners and the growing impact of e-commerce in facilitating counterfeiting activities.

Rubio urged e-commerce platforms to tighten their policies and enhance monitoring of retailers to prevent the sale of prohibited products on their platforms. —VBL, GMA Integrated News