ACG welcomes NCA's strategic assessment of organised crime in the UK

The National Crime Agency (NCA) today launched its strategic assessment of organised crime in the UK here

“The ACG welcomes this evaluation” commented Phil Lewis, ACG Director General. 

“However, it is once again astonishing that counterfeiting fails to attract national enforcement or media attention. Institutions such as Europol, Interpol, UNICRI, UNODC and the World Customs Organisation (WCO) have all produced clear evidence on the links between counterfeiting and organised crime and the massive profits from fake products that are being channelled into the trafficking of drugs and human beings, money laundering and corruption”. 

In Sept 2017 the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and UK Intellectual Property Office (IPO) published a report on the Trade in Counterfeit Products and the UK Economy. This highlighted the fact that imports of counterfeit goods into the UK are as much £9.3 billion, resulting in 60,000 lost jobs and almost £4 billion in tax revenue. 

Another defining study by the European Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) exposed the damage being done by counterfeiting and piracy. It reveals that the trade in fake goods amounts to 2.5 % of all world commerce. In financial terms this equates to USD 461 billion, which is equivalent to the GDP of Austria, or the combined GDP's of Ireland and the Czech Republic.

“When will we wake up to the fact that counterfeiting is now a major threat to our security and prosperity? The scope and scale of the damage it causes would be impossible without the involvement of transnational organised networks”.