Officials seize record-breaking counterfeit haul

Date: 04/07/02

By Peter Chapman

EU CUSTOMS officials made a record haul of 39.7 million counterfeit CDs at Union borders in 2001 - up 349 from 2000, according to data obtained by European Voice.

The bulk of the seizures - which include music CDs, blank CDs, computer software and DVDs - were made at ports such as Rotterdam and Antwerp from ships carrying cargo from South East Asia.

But, despite the huge haul, music industry sources privately concede that far more counterfeits are reaching their target market - owing to a chronic shortage of customs staff and the sheer difficulty in identifying professionally produced digital replicas from the genuine article.

'The problem is roller-coasting out of control,' admits Frances Moore, European director of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry.

However, the problems do not all stem from beyond the EU's leaky borders. Despite the launch last year of a directive designed to bolster copyright rules, Moore said the music sector faced massive counterfeiting from gangsters operating from black-spots such as Spain - where police recently intercepted nearly two million blank CDs destined for pirate production plants.

She said gangs have been known to evade police by installing towers of CD-burning machines in private apartments - in return for paying part of the rent.

The industry is now calling for a new EU law to harmonise a hotch-potch of national rules, making it easier to prosecute pirates and seize fake CDs.

Internal Market Commissioner Frits Bolkestein landed in hot water with MEPs earlier this year when he appeared unaware that his own services were actually working on such a law. Record companies hope that Bolkestein's bout of amnesia was just temporary.

EU customs officials made a record haul of 39.7 million counterfeit CDs at Union borders in 2001 - up 349% from 2000.