The Economic Inspectorate last week got their hands on more than 7,000 counterfeit goods in the Brussels region. These comprised imitation luxury products, such as perfumes, handbags and clothes. The inspectors also unearthed counterfeit football items. So says the Belgian Minister for Employment, Economy and Consumer Affairs, Kris Peeters. The estimated resale value of these objects is more than 1 million euros.
On May 12th, the Economic Inspectorate led a wide-ranging initiative, in collaboration with local police. Five locations were visited. All of the counterfeit products, around 7,000 in total, were seized by investigators. These included brand perfumes, handbags and clothes as well as more than 1,000 football items, such as T-shirts, various items of equipment, caps for several national teams, amongst them the Red Devils.
The FPS Economy has already led five checks this year, concerning counterfeit products depicting the Red Devils. The majority of the time, these concerned businesses who were abusing brands that were protected by the Belgian Football Union (URBSFA). Private individuals who had bought counterfeit goods for subsequent resale were subsequently inspected.
“I asked the FPS Economy to undertake checks owing to the European Championships due to take place in France in June. It is worth remembering that the brand the Red Devils, the logo of the URBSFA, as well as the so-called Belgium Devil Trident and player photographs, are all protected under intellectual property law so thus cannot be used. UEFA also continues to own brands that are thus protected,” the Minister highlights.
(Source: Belga)
