This report was prepared by the OECD Public Governance Directorate together with the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO).
At the OECD this study was conducted under the Task Force on Countering Illicit Trade (TF-CIT). The study was shared with other OECD committees with relevant expertise in the area of trade, health policy and innovation.
The report was prepared by Piotr Stryszowski, Senior Economist and Florence Mouradian, Economist at the OECD Directorate for Public Governance jointly with Michał Kazimierczak, Economist at the European Observatory on Infringements of Intellectual Property Rights of the EUIPO and Nathan Wajsman, Chief Economist, EUIPO. Peter Avery, Senior Economist, provided significant inputs. The authors wish to thank the OECD experts who provided valuable knowledge and insights: Morgane Gaudiau and Stéphane Jacobzone from the OECD Public Governance Directorate, Evdokia Moïse and Silvia Sorescu from the OECD Trade Directorate, and Olaf Merk from the International Transport Forum.
The authors would also like to thank experts from the OECD member countries and participants of several seminars and workshops for their valuable assistance. Special expressions of appreciation are given to Riikka Pakkanen from Finnish Customs, George Agius from Malta Customs as well as to Massimo Antonelli, Siegmar Reiss and Laurent Szymkowiak from the EUIPO.
Raquel Paramo and Andrea Uhrhammer provided editorial and production support.
The database on customs seizures was provided by the World Customs Organization (WCO) and supplemented with regional data submitted by the European Commission's Directorate-General for Taxation and Customs Union, the US Customs and Border Protection Agency and the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The authors express their gratitude for the data and for the valuable support of these institutions.