EU and Hungarian Customs Host Seminar on Combating Counterfeiting and Piracy

On April 4-7, 2005, in Budapest, Hungary, the European Commission, together with the Hungarian customs administration, hosted a seminar on combating counterfeiting and piracy. The conference featured experts from 130 customs administrations of EU Member States and major trading partners such as China, the U.S., and Turkey, as well as experts from the business world, with the goal of permitting an exchange of information on the latest trends and techniques used by fraudsters. According to European Taxation and Customs Commissioner L?szl? Kov?cs, the counterfeiting threat endangers the economies and the health and safety of consumers, requiring a concrete and practical response from the European Union. On April 6, 2005, participants visited the Budapest harbor, international airport, customs postal center, and a land border to study customs techniques used to identify fraudulent goods, especially counterfeit and pirated goods, and to examine consignments selected for opening on the basis of the selection techniques...[more]