Returning Brits face fines for fake goods

Travellers risks fines of thousands of pounds for buying counterfeit designer goods abroad.

Travel Insurance News - 24/08/2009

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Officials in some countries, including Italy and France, have increased efforts to tackle the trade in counterfeit designer goods, levying fines on those who sell the items and those who purchase them. In France, for example, fines can be as high as the equivalent of £260,000.

Nicholas Phillips, a copyright solicitor in the UK, is warning returning British tourists not to bring back fake designer handbags, sports gear, sunglasses or watches – or risk being fined.

Phillips told the BBC: “The most likely thing to happen to British tourists if they walk thought customs with a counterfeit Louis Vuitton bag is customs officers will tap them on the shoulder and take it away from them.”

He went on to say: “They will also potentially fine them twice the value of the original bag, not the fake. [That] may run to several thousand euros - imagine twice that.”

The European Commission has recently raised concerns about increased involvement of international criminal gangs in the fake goods market.

In a recent statement the commission said: “Without doubt, one of the principal methods of dispersing counterfeits is the 'ant-like' traffic of tourists returning home from holiday, bringing back souvenirs.”

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