₧21.3B in counterfeit goods seized by BOC as of mid-July

By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas @jearcalas

THE Bureau of Customs (BOC) said it has seized over P20 billion in counterfeit goods as of mid-July across more than 200 operations nationwide.

Customs Commissioner Bienvenido Y. Rubio told participants in a forum in Singapore that his agency seized P21.3 billion (about $387.2 million) of counterfeit goods from January to July 14.

The confiscated fake goods spanned over 219 operations nationwide conducted during the reference period, according to the BOC.

Rubio said during the Asian Security Conference Exhibition in Singapore last Wednesday that the BOC’s Intelligence Group “played a crucial role in developing strong partnerships with law enforcement agencies, trade owners, and stakeholders to achieve these significant results.”

The BOC chief also cited some of the achievements of the Philippines protecting intellectual property rights (IPR). Rubio asserted that the Philippines has maintained a “clean record” for the past 10 years in the United States Trade Representative Special 301 Report.

“Furthermore, 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,” he added.

Rubio admitted there are still challenges in the bureau’s campaign against counterfeit goods, particularly those within the e-Commerce platform.

The official said the problems that the BOC is facing involve the expe- ditious facilitation of trade through brand certification and/or verification by owners of a brand and the emergence of e-Commerce as contributing to the trade in counterfeit products.

Rubio, hence, urged e-commerce platforms to “tighten their policies to monitor retailers and prohibited products being sold on their platforms.”

To note, the 2023 US report cited a recent study by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development and the European Union Intellectual Property Office saying that the Philippines is among six countries—China, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, the Philippines and Vietnam—found to be “the leading sources of counterfeit medicines distributed globally.”