Our friends at the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (OHIM) have just published the 2015 Situation Report on Counterfeiting in the European Union. This is OHIM's first report of this nature and it is the first fruit of a joint project with the EU crime agency Europol.

The report addresses the current situation regarding organised criminal groups involved in producing and distributing counterfeit goods within the EU, covering on routes, entry points, the way criminals actually operate and the current activities of law enforcement and the private sector. The report also explores links between counterfeiting and other areas of criminal activity. As well as presenting details on the scale and scope of product counterfeiting within the EU, the report highlights opportunities to detect, prevent and reduce the impact of counterfeiting.

The report covers the activities of foreign organised criminal groups including those emanating from China and Italy. It also highlights India as a significant source of counterfeit pharmaceutical products, Turkey and Egypt for foodstuffs, Indonesia for weak legislation and the Philippines for low enforcement rates. The report adds that Morocco could present a significant new source of counterfeit products.

The report states there is evidence to show that an increasing spectrum of everyday goods are being counterfeited. It also considers that the new generic top-level domains might serve to deceive consumers into buying counterfeit goods online.

You can read the report by clicking through to the EU Observatory website here.