Customs officers from DG Intelligence and Investigation and TD South Sea detained, during three inspections of trucks, undeclared 470,940 personal protective equipment: helmets, cloth masks, gloves, as well as nearly 50,000 clothes, sports shoes, handbags and key chains, suspected to have been manufactured in violation of intellectual property rights.
In two of the cases on 07.05. and 08.05.2020 trucks with Romanian and Bulgarian registrations, entering the country from Turkey, arrive at MP Kapitan Andreevo. One truck was transporting groupage goods to Romania. The inspection revealed that 940 safety helmets were hidden in the cargo hold, and among the declared goods the customs officers found 8400 men’s and women’s T-shirts, blouses, trousers bearing the logo of protected brands and 1290 keychains with the logo of famous car brands, including BMW , VOLKSWAGEN, RENAULT, SKODA, FORD, FIAT. The other truck was transporting goods to Hungary, where a check of 250 packages found 40,000 clothes, sports shoes and handbags with signs of famous brands, including Polo, Lacoste, Tommy Hilfiger, Hugo Boss “,” Calvin Klein “,” Armani “,” Puma “,” Adidas “,” Nike “. 420,000 disposable protective gloves were found in 22 of the packages, which were missing from the goods described in the documents. On 11 May 2020, customs officers inspected a foreign-registered truck driven by a Turkish driver who provided regular documents for the goods being transported to Germany, among which it was found that there were undeclared 50,000 protective masks made of fabric.
The smuggled personal protective equipment was detained. Acts under the Customs Act have been drawn up for the drivers. Pursuant to the European Regulation 608/2013 on the protection of intellectual property rights and the Trademarks and Geographical Indications Act, the imitations have been retained and the trademark owners will be informed about the case.
Source: Customs Agency