Customs launches counterfeit crackdown on overseas direct purchases

[Photo by Kim Ho-young]

The Korea Customs Service (KCS) has embarked on a major crackdown on counterfeit foreign goods that are directly purchased online by South Korean consumers.

Recently, goods purchased via overseas direct sales on online sites, including Alibaba, have increasingly infringed on intellectual property rights (IPRs). The KCS is aiming to filter out fake goods more thoroughly than usual by preparing a watch list of items to crack down on more intensely at each customs office, the gateways for direct sales into the country, ahead of the peak season.

The KCS launched an intensive crackdown on counterfeit goods on Tuesday, which will run until December 1, as large-scale discount events for Black Friday and Singles’ Day in China begin. Each customs office will nominate items that are frequently caught violating IPRs to block the importation of counterfeit goods, the first time that the KCS has instructed each customs office to designate items for intensive crackdown to prevent IPR violations. The move comes as the number of counterfeit seizures has increased sixfold in the last four years.

The KCS identified clothing, shoes, and bags as the three most common items for counterfeiting, and each customs office also has designated priority items to focus on. Incheon Airport Customs is monitoring fashion items, and Incheon Port Customs electronics, food, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and plastic household products. At Pyeongtaek Port Customs, watches and electronics are on the watch list, while Busan Port Customs has electronics, food, medicines, cosmetics, and plastic household goods on its list. “As 99 percent of express goods purchased via overseas direct sales come in through the four major customs offices, these measures will help us significantly block the IPR-infringing goods from entering Korea,” a KCS official said.