Hong Kong Customs yesterday (September 20) conducted an operation against the sale of counterfeit goods at a fair held at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC) and seized suspected counterfeit jewellery.
Customs earlier received information alleging that counterfeit jewellery was displayed for sale at a booth of Jewellery & Gem World Hong Kong held at the HKCEC in the past four days.
After investigation, Customs officers yesterday conducted a test-buy operation and successfully bought one suspected counterfeit necklace from a booth. The officers further seized two more suspected counterfeit necklaces at the booth later. The market value was about $30,000 in total.
During the operation, a 25-year-old saleslady was arrested.
Investigation is ongoing.
Customs attaches great importance to combating infringing activities at exhibitions and officers will be sent to different exhibitions to conduct inspections. Customs will contact the relevant trademark or copyright owner immediately to confirm the authenticity of the goods when a suspected infringing exhibit is found. Customs will take enforcement action after investigation and with the assistance of the trademark or copyright owner.
Customs will continue to take stringent enforcement action to combat infringing activities. Booth exhibitors are reminded to respect intellectual property rights and not to sell infringing goods.
Under the Trade Descriptions Ordinance, any person who sells, or possesses for sale, any goods with a forged trademark commits an offence. The maximum penalty upon conviction is a fine of $500,000 and imprisonment for five years.
Members of the public may report any suspected infringing activities to Customs' 24-hour hotline 2545 6182 or its dedicated crime-reporting email account (crimereport@customs.gov.hk).
Ends/Tuesday, September 21, 2021
