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Updated Saturday, July 16, 2011 8:48 pm TWN, dpa

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EU begs shoppers to reject products by counterfeiters

BRUSSELS--The European Union's customs commissioner called Thursday on consumers to stay away from counterfeit goods, as a new report showed that agents intercepted nearly twice as many shipments in 2010 as the year before — with China still the leading supplier.

“Counterfeit products do not respect any standards. They may be of poor quality or even dangerous,” Algirdas Semeta told reporters in Brussels, with an array of fake goods on display ranging from razor blades, tobacco and jeans to pink hair straighteners and golf balls.

“Unless consumers face up to the negative consequences ... counterfeit products will be continued to be offered for sale,” he added. “Everyone has a role to play.”

Although the total number of products seized by customs at the EU's external borders decreased in 2010 — reaching around 103 million — the number of intercepted shipments soared from 43,500 in 2009 to almost 80,000 last year.

Semeta noted that there has been a marked trend toward “smaller packages” to transport the goods, notably through the postal system — with many fake products shipped to peoples' homes after being purchased on Internet websites such as eBay.

Most of the counterfeit articles found by customs were cigarettes, representing 34 percent of the goods. Household products such as shampoos, soaps, medicines and appliances reached 14.5 percent, while office supplies, clothing and toys all came in at around 8 percent.

For the first time, the European Commission calculated the seized goods' value — based on the prices of the products they are supposed to imitate — estimating that it was more than 1 billion euros (US$1.4 billion).

China remained the leading source of counterfeit products, with 85 percent coming from the Asian country, up from 64 percent a year earlier despite an information-exchange agreement between Chinese and EU customs that has been in place since 2009.

Much like in 2010, EU officials said on Thursday that they hope the agreement will produce results by the next year's report.

Confiscated goods also came from Turkey, Thailand, Hong Kong and India, which led the way in providing counterfeit foodstuff, non-alcoholic beverages, memory cards and medicines respectively.

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