Billions in lost sales due to counterfeit goods
European manufacturers of clothing, cosmetics and toys suffer annual sales losses of around 16 billion euros due to counterfeit goods. In addition, around 200,000 jobs are lost as a result of such fraud, according to a study by the EU Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) in Alicante, southern Spain.
According to the study, 40,000 jobs were lost in Germany alone. "Counterfeit goods cause real costs – for consumers, for brands and for our economies. This latest study shows the very real costs in terms of lost sales and jobs in the EU," wrote the Executive Director of the EUIPO, João Negrão.
According to the study, the German toy industry is one of the hardest hit sectors in the EU, accounting for a third of the annual loss of turnover (334 million euros) due to counterfeit goods. Cyprus is the country most affected by counterfeiting in the clothing sector and France in the cosmetics sector. In absolute figures, the impact on the clothing industry is the most negative at European level. It loses almost 12 billion euros in revenue every year, which amounts to 5.2 percent of total turnover.
Potential health and safety problems
The European cosmetics sector and the toy industry also recorded significantly lower sales due to counterfeit branded products: Losses amounted to three billion euros for cosmetics (4.8 percent of sales) and one billion euros for toys (8.7 percent of sales). Counterfeiting also has a significant negative impact on the employment sector. According to the EUIPO study, which is based on data from 2018 to 2021, 160,000 jobs will be lost in the clothing sector, 32,000 in the cosmetics sector and 3,600 fewer employees in the toy sector.
At the same time, counterfeit branded goods often pose serious health and safety problems for consumers. This applies in particular to counterfeit cosmetics and toys. According to the EUIPO, 15 percent of goods seized at the EU's external borders in 2022 were potentially dangerous counterfeit products.
The most important reason why consumers turn to counterfeit products is that the price of the original is perceived to be too high. This is according to a study conducted by the EUIPO last June. According to the study, a third of Europeans consider it acceptable to buy a counterfeit product in such a case. Among young people, this proportion even rises to half, wrote the EUIPO, one of the largest decentralized agencies in the European Union, which is responsible for the registration of European Union trademarks and Community designs.
© dpa-infocom, dpa:240116-99-627249/3