European Union. Image: punchng.com
Counterfeit goods cost Europe €16 billion.
According to a report released on Tuesday by the European Union’s Intellectual Property Office, counterfeit goods—mostly clothing—cost the European economy 16 billion euros annually and cause the loss of roughly 200,000 jobs.
Based on statistics from 2018 to 2021, the agency’s results demonstrate that counterfeit goods have the greatest negative impact on the apparel industry, costing 12 billion euros ($13.1 billion) a year, or 5.2% of total sales.
One billion euros are lost on toys, while three billion euros are lost on counterfeit cosmetics. However, the EUIPO issued a warning, stating that “Counterfeiting, like any illegal activity, cannot be accurately measured.”
Its conclusions were based on the quantity of goods confiscated by law enforcement and the proportion of Europeans who acknowledged purchasing fake goods in each member state of the EU.
According to a June 2023 research, one-third of Europeans thought it was okay to purchase counterfeit items if the genuine item’s price was too high. This ratio increased to 50% among respondents who were younger.
Just five EU countries accounted for the majority of the annual losses from counterfeiting, with Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and Austria accounting for half of the total.
According to the EUIPO, Germany was losing 40,000 jobs annually, Italy was losing 24,000, while France and Spain were losing 15,000 jobs every.