World Customs Organization Adds To Anti-Counterfeiting System

The Brussels-based World Customs Organization has updated its online tool for field customs officers to communicate in real time with rights holders on counterfeiting of their brands. The WCO announced its partnership with another company providing authentication and traceability technologies, bringing over 30 additional top brands on board.

The WCO announced that the network Certilogo is now connected to the WCO IPM system. The IPM system, launched in 2013, allows “mobile capability and the possibility to interface IPM with partner companies (such as Certilogo) that already provide authentication and/or traceability solutions,” according to the WCO.

“Using a mobile device,” WCO said, “field Customs officers can instantly verify a product’s authenticity simply by scanning the barcode or any track and trace solution and IPM will automatically launch the authentication application.”

“Thanks to the new agreement with Certilogo, more than 80 customs administrations and thousands of customs officers can now check the authenticity of goods crossing borders and carrying a Certilogo code,” it said in a release.

A counterfeit is generally defined as a trademark violation, packaging a product to look like a known brand, without authorisation. Certilogo consumers from over 100 countries have performed over 700,000 authentications, a release said.  ” Certilogo’s platform collects data from each interaction to spot fakes, identify fake sellers, highlight security leaks in the supply chain, monitor parallel markets and keep e-marketplaces clean from counterfeits,” it said.

The WCO said it is encouraging more such partnerships.