The European Commission, with the support of EUIPO Observatory, has published its biannual Report on the Protection and Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights in Third Countries, which aims to improve IPR protection and enforcement worldwide as well as to inform rights holders of the potential risks when conducting business in certain countries.

The Report identifies countries outside of the European Union in which the state of intellectual property protection and enforcement gives rise to the greatest concern and provides an update of the existing Commission’s list of priority countries. The updated list of these countries is split in three categories, reflecting the scale and persistence of problems:
1) China;
2) India, Indonesia, Russia, Turkey, Ukraine;
3) Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, Malaysia, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia and Thailand.

China is at the origin of a dominant share of counterfeit and pirated goods arriving in the EU, in terms of both value and volume. More than 80% of counterfeit and pirated goods seized by EU customs authorities come from China and Hong Kong.

The Third Country Report can be found HERE.