Anti-counterfeiting experts including ICCE members are helping Israel’s customs officials to disrupt the flow of fake goods that funds serious organised crime in the country.
Canon was one of a number of manufacturers of well-known brands that delivered a day of training to Israeli customs officials near Jerusalem on Monday, 11 February 2019.
More than 20 officials from various enforcement authorities took part in the joint training, which included raising awareness of the types of products being counterfeited and recognising fake goods should they enter Israel’s main entry points, for example Haifa Port and Ben Gurion Airport.
A spokesperson for ICCE spoke at the event. ICCE works with national enforcement agencies to tackle the problem of counterfeiting across the EMEA region.
“The authorities in Israel are very sensitive to the fact that the money resulting from the sale of counterfeit goods is being channelled into serious organised crime,” said the ICCE spokesperson. “We hope this training will raise awareness, so they can continue to remain vigilant on the borders which will ultimately lead to more seizures of counterfeit goods.”
ICCE explains that Israel’s strategic position is that the country is on the frontline of anti-piracy and is in a strategically important position as a potential gateway into Europe for pirated goods.
Just a short distance from the training venue, in Jerusalem, delegates would have found counterfeit goods readily available from street merchants and shops.
“ICCE is concerned with counterfeit imaging products and although you don’t tend to find these products on the streets, we do recognise that there is a general issue with counterfeiting which all producers have to tackle with a united front,” said the spokesperson for ICCE.
ICCE members conduct training events across the EMEA region and have developed authentication devices and systems that enable consumers to check if a product may be counterfeit.
