The Intellectual Property Investigation Bureau of the Customs and Excise Department has been highly commended by the Global Anti-Counterfeiting Group (GACG) and will be presented with a Global Anti-Counterfeiting Award 2014 tomorrow (June 5) in recognition of its outstanding achievements in combating counterfeiting and piracy.
The Global Anti-Counterfeiting Awards are presented for outstanding achievements by individuals or organisations involved in combating counterfeiting and piracy, either to protect their own brands or products or in the development of an environment which encourages the combating of counterfeits and pirated products. The Awards are given in seven categories, namely Individual Achievement, International Public Body, National Public Body, Company, Association, Media and Authentication User.
The Customs and Excise Department has won the Award in the category of National Public Body for its successful long-standing commitment to anti-counterfeiting activities and for co-operation with the public sector nationally and internationally and also with individuals and associations in the private sector. The Award will be presented on the World Anti-Counterfeiting Day in Paris tomorrow.
The World Anti-Counterfeiting Day was established in 1998 by the GACG to raise public awareness of the international costs of counterfeiting and piracy around the world.
The GACG is an informal network of national and regional intellectual property protection and enforcement organisations. With 22 members covering nearly 40 countries, the GACG network links a wide number of national and regional anti-counterfeiting organisations whose common objective is to exchange and share information, to participate in appropriate joint activities and to co-operate in the resolution of specific intellectual property problems and challenges in their respective national or regional areas.
Intellectual property rights protection is one of the core duties of the Customs and Excise Department. The department's Intellectual Property Investigation Bureau is designated for investigating copyright and counterfeiting offences. The Customs and Excise Department has been working closely with local and overseas intellectual property rights owners and law enforcement agencies to fight against intellectual property crimes. In 2013, 720 cases of infringement of intellectual property rights were detected, of which 88 per cent involved counterfeit goods.
Ends/Wednesday, June 4, 2014