2015 Situation Report on Counterfeiting in the EU

Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) help ensure that innovators and creators get a fair return for their work, encourage investment in research, and create growth and quality jobs. They also contribute to the health and safety of consumers by allowing them to make informed choices about the products they buy. IPR intensive industries account for more than a quarter of all jobs and more than a third of GDP in the EU. This illustrates the value of these rights for the economy and society in the EU, as well as the scale of potential damage that can be caused when they are undermined.
The EU has acknowledged the need to protect consumers and safeguard intellectual assets simultaneously, in order to ensure that creativity and innovation continue to be major drivers of growth. In this context, Europol’s Serious Organised Crime Threat Assessment (SOCTA) has identified commodity counterfeiting violating health, safety and food regulations and substandard goods as a new priority area in the EU policy cycle 2014-17.