The document summarizes a study on the impacts of counterfeiting and piracy on the Italian economy. Some key findings include: - Up to 16% of goods imported to Italy are counterfeit, primarily from China and Hong Kong. Counterfeit clothing, handbags, and electronics are most common. - Global trade in fake goods infringing on Italian trademarks was worth €31.7 billion in 2013, equal to 3.6% of Italian manufacturing sales. - Counterfeiting led to €7.9 billion in lost sales for Italian retailers, €24 billion for manufacturers, and 88,000 lost jobs, representing 2.1% of Italian employment. - Italy lost €10.

1. March 2017

2. Context
• Trade in counterfeit and pirated goods:
low risk and high reward business.
• Rising importance of this risk.
• An effective governance response to
counterfeiting requires greater
co-ordination within and across countries.
• This must be
based on solid empirical evidence

3. Joint project: OECD — EUIPO
• Quantitative analysis
(empirical, robust, objective)
• Great dataset (W CO, DG TAXUD, CBP)
Threats of counterfeiting and piracy
are growing worldwide…
• Up to 2.5% of world trade in 2013 was in fake
goods
Italy is particularly vulnerable to global counterfeiting:
• One of the top economies hit by IPR violations
Context

4. Economies most affected by violations of IPR in global trade, 2014-2016
Context
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%

5. Effects of trade in fake goods on
consumers, industries and the
government, from two angles:
1. Impacts of imports of fake
products to Italy
2. Impacts of infringements of
Italian firms’ IPR in global trade
This study

6. This is done by using:
 a combined database on customs seizures from
the WCO; DG TAXUD and CBP-ICE
 the “GTRIC toolbox”
 data on substitution rates from consumer
surveys
 data on industrial output and employment
Data

7. The results
Most fake goods imported to Italy come
from Asia. The top sources
are China and Hong Kong (China).
In terms of sectors with the highest share of
fakes in imports, articles of leather and
handbags were on top. 16% of goods
imported to Italy in this category were
fakes. In absolute terms ICT devices and
car spare parts and were the most
counterfeited type of goods in 2016

8. The results
Global trade in counterfeit and pirated
products that infringed Italian trademarks
amounted to as much as EUR 31.7 billion
in 2013, equivalent to 3.6% of total Italian
manufacturing sales (domestic plus
exports). Italian industry is at risk!
16.7% of the value of fake Italian goods are
clothing, footwear and leather articles,
15.4% are electronic and optical products;
and 13% foodstuff

9. Italian products enjoy good reputation, and
“Made in Italy” becomes a lucrative target
for counterfeiters. All Italian products,
where trademark adds value are at risk,
from basic common goods to luxury or
intermediary products. Italian products that
are particularly targeted are: clothing;
footwear and leather articles; electronic,
electrical equipment and optical products;
and foodstuff.
Products of Italian small and medium
enterprises are very often targeted by
counterfeiters. SMEs often do not have
sufficient resources and capacities to
monitor this threat.
The consequences can be
much more severe than
for big companies.
The results

10. The results
Fake goods that infringe the IP of Italian
right holders come mainly
from China; Hong Kong, China and Turkey.
Over half of the goods traded worldwide
that infringed Italian IPRs were sold to
unsuspecting consumers who believed they
were buying genuine goods.
This share varies among product
categories, ranging from 34% for jewellery
and watches to 86% for foodstuffs.

11. The results
• The total volume of forgone sales in the Italian wholesalers and
retailers due to fake products smuggled in Italy is EUR 7.9 billion;
an equivalent to 3.8% of total sales in the Italian wholesale and
retail sector.
• Forgone sales of Italian companies due to infringement of their
IP rights in global trade amounted to EUR 24 billion, or 3.2% of
total sales by these companies.
Altogether, at least 88 000 jobs were lost in ITALY due to counterfeiting.
That represents 2.1% of full time equivalent employees in Italy.
Altogether, trade in counterfeit and pirated goods resulted in a reduction in Italian
public revenues equal to almost EUR 10.3 billion, the equivalent of 1% of the taxes
collected on value-added, personal and corporate incomes, and social security
contributions, or 0.62% of Italian GDP.

12. Next steps
• Robust results – starting points for building
evidence-based policy responses.
• We are ready to act, and
to advise our countries on
selected policy areas.

13. oe.cd/counterfeits-italy