This report was prepared by the OECD Trade and Agriculture Directorate (TAD), under the leadership of Marion Jansen, TAD Director and John Drummond, Head of the Trade Policy division, together with the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), under the leadership of João Negrão, Executive Director, and Patricia Garcia-Escudero, Director of the European Observatory on Infringements of Intellectual Property Rights.
At the OECD this study was conducted under the auspices of the Working Party on Countering Illicit Trade (WP-CIT). The report was prepared by Piotr Stryszowski, Senior Economist and Morgane Gaudiau, Economist at the OECD Directorate for Trade and Agriculture jointly with Michał Kazimierczak, Economist at the European Observatory on Infringements of Intellectual Property Rights of the EUIPO and Nathan Wajsman, Chief Economist, EUIPO. The authors wish to thank experts from the OECD member countries and participants of several seminars and workshops for their valuable assistance. Special expressions of appreciation are given to Kristýna Richter from Cezch Republic, Riikka Pakkanen from Finnish Customs, George Agius from Malta Customs, Tomas O’Kane from HM Revenue & Customs as well as to Adriana Vargas Saldarriaga , Paola Buendía García and Silvia Helena Montoya Borras from the National Business Association of Colombia (ANDI).
Michèle Patterson provided editorial and production support.
The database on customs seizures was provided by the World Customs Organization (WCO) and supplemented with regional data submitted by the European Commission's Directorate-General for Taxation and Customs Union, the US Customs and Border Protection Agency and the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The authors express their gratitude for the data and for the valuable support of these institutions.