Misuse of Small Parcels for Trade in Counterfeit Goods
Facts and Trends
This study examines the potential for the misuse of small parcels for trade in counterfeit and pirated goods. It presents the legal and economic contexts of the operation of express and postal services. It also looks at the available data on volumes of small consignments, via postal and courier streams, in the context of seizures of counterfeit and pirated goods. Furthermore it analyses the links between the observed dynamics in markets for small parcels and the available information on misuse of this service by traffickers in counterfeit and pirated goods.
An overview of international evidence on the misuse of small parcels by counterfeiters
This chapter presents quantitative evidence on the use of small shipments in the transmission of counterfeit and pirated goods across global markets. Statistical evidence suggests that small shipments provide an increasingly attractive means to facilitate the trade in counterfeit goods for a large range of product categories. Indeed, the data show that small shipments and parcels tend to dominate in numerous trade routes, reflecting the shrinking costs of postal and courier shipments and the increasing importance of the Internet and e‑commerce in international trade.