The European Parliament has passed the new Regulation 608/2013, concerning customs enforcement of intellectual property rights and repealing Council Regulation (EC) No 1383/2003, currently in force. This new regulation will be effective on 1 January 2014.
The new Regulation maintains the fundamentals of the one in force, and is devised to facilitate, by means of a simplified procedure, the destruction at customs of goods infringing IP rights before entering the Union.
The most relevant novelty is the inclusion of a new procedure for small consignments (3 units or less, or less than 2 kilograms), that will be destroyed automatically without the right-holder's intervention. This new provision reflects the trend amongst counterfeiters to divide consignments into small parcels in order to hinder detection and disencourage the enforcement of rights.
See the Regulation's full text here.
The new Regulation maintains the fundamentals of the one in force, and is devised to facilitate, by means of a simplified procedure, the destruction at customs of goods infringing IP rights before entering the Union.
The most relevant novelty is the inclusion of a new procedure for small consignments (3 units or less, or less than 2 kilograms), that will be destroyed automatically without the right-holder's intervention. This new provision reflects the trend amongst counterfeiters to divide consignments into small parcels in order to hinder detection and disencourage the enforcement of rights.
See the Regulation's full text here.