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Transnational Alliance to Combat Illicit Trade
  • Home
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    • Featured Report: Illicit Trade and the UNSDGs
    • Featured Report: The Link Between Illicit Trade and Sovereign Credit Ratings
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Trade in Counterfeit and Pirated Goods

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Apart from narcotics trafficking, counterfeiting and piracy account for the largest economic value of all forms of illicit trade. The OECD reports that counterfeiting and piracy in international trade alone has grown from US$ 250 billion annually in 2007 (OECD, 2009) to more than $461 billion in 2013, an increase of more than 80% in less than 5 years, and representing more than 2.5% of world trade (OECD & EUIPO, 2016). The widespread counterfeiting and piracy divert potential tax revenues to actors of the “underground economy”, while putting both the economy and the health and safety of consumers at risk.

Counterfeiting and piracy occur across multiple industry sectors and can extend to other and similar problems. For example, unbranded petroleum products and substandard pharmaceuticals may be considered fakes, but may not necessarily encompass an intellectual property (IP) infringement. Examples of digital illicit trade common to facilitating piracy of copyright works and live events—though storage, download and streaming—include cybercrimes and money-laundering in the financial system.

Counterfeiting and piracy activities distort marketplace competition for a wide range of sectors and both local and international brands. Other potential costs to business include:
  • Loss of market shares, particularly due to unfair competition practices
  • Increased monitoring of the supply chain
  • Regulatory compliance costs
  • Liability stemming from health and safety of consumers
  • Reputational risks
  • Security and insurance costs

New TRACIT partner

TRACIT joins the Buy Safe America Coalition

TRACIT has joined the Buy Safe America coalition, a diverse group of responsible retailers, consumer groups, manufacturers, intellectual property advocates and law enforcement officials who support efforts at all levels of government to protect consumers and communities from the sale of counterfeit and stolen goods. The coalition supports legislation that requires online marketplaces to collect and verify basic information of third parties who sell products on their platforms. 
Visit the Coalition here.
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Featured report

Mapping the Impact of Illicit Trade on the Sustainable Development Goals

The TRACIT report Mapping the Impact of Illicit Trade on the Sustainable Development Goals investigates illicit trade in 12 key sectors that participate significantly in international trade and are most vulnerable to illicit trade. For each sector, the negative impacts of illicit trade are mapped against the 17 UN SDGs. The full report is available here.

Read the chapter: 
SDGs and illicit trade in counterfeit and pirated goods
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U.S. Awareness Campaign

USPTO introduces "Go For Real" awareness campaign

The USPTO and NCPC are working together to raise public awareness about the importance of intellectual property and to decrease demand for counterfeit goods in the United States. The Campaign aims to increase the desire to buy genuine goods, raise awareness of the damage caused by counterfeits, change attitudes and change counterfeit buying behaviors by educating young consumers on how to identify and avoid counterfeit goods.  Visit the campaign website here.
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Learn how counterfeit and piracy impacts the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals
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From  smuggling, counterfeiting and tax evasion, to the illegal sale or possession of goods, services, humans and wildlife, illicit trade is compromising the attainment of the UN SDGs in significant ways, crowding out legitimate economic activity, depriving governments of revenues for investment in vital public services, dislocating millions of legitimate jobs and causing irreversible damage to ecosystems and human lives. 

The TRACIT report Mapping the Impact of Illicit Trade on the Sustainable Development Goals investigates illicit trade in 12 key sectors that participate significantly in international trade and are most vulnerable to illicit trade. For each sector, the negative impacts of illicit trade are mapped against the 17 UN SDGs. ​The full report is available here.

Read the chapter: SDGs and illicit trade in counterfeit and pirated goods

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TRACIT POLICY POSITIONS

United States
TRACIT endorses INFORM Consumers Act, Supports legislative measures to improve verification of online suppliers, 30 July 2020

TRACIT input to the Report on the U.S. State of Counterfeit and Pirated Goods Trafficking and Recommendations, July 29, 2019

TRACIT Letter to US Senate
​Finance Committee
, How Statutory and
Regulatory Barriers Prevent the Sharing of Information on Counterfeits, December 9, 2019


TRACIT Letter to US House
​Cosponsors of Shop Safe Act

March 3, 2020

TRACIT Statement on Fake
and Unsafe Products on Online
​Marketplaces to US House
​Subcommittee on Consumer
​Protection​

March 4, 2020

TRACIT letter to U.S. Vice President Pence, encouraging diligence to fighting counterfeiting online, (Co-signed) April 9, 2020

TRACIT Letter to US Senator Grassley, supporting his outreach to Vice President Pence,
May 7, 2020


WHOIS Call for Action (co-signed), February 28, 2020

WHOIS Submission to the ICANN EPDP (co-signed, April 1, 2020

EU
TRACIT submission to EU open public consultation on the Digital Services Act package, September 8, 2020
​

TRACIT Contribution
to European Multidisciplinary Platform Against Criminal Threats (EMPACT)

April 10, 2020

TRACIT_submission to EU consultation on Watch-List, April 11, 2018

Other countries
TRACIT submission to Brazil National IP Strategy  August 30, 2020



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Transnational Alliance to Combat Illicit Trade (TRACIT) is an independent, non-governmental, not-for-profit organisation under US tax code 501(c)(6).
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  • Home
  • About
    • Members
    • Alliance Partners
    • Affiliations
    • Team
    • Join
    • FAQs
  • Work Program
    • Covid-19
    • Supply chain survey
    • Featured Report: Fraudulent Advertising Online
    • Featured project: Global Illicit Trade Index
    • Featured Report: Illicit Trade and the UNSDGs
    • Featured Report: The Link Between Illicit Trade and Sovereign Credit Ratings
  • Sectors
    • Agri-food industry
    • Alcohol
    • Counterfeiting & Piracy
    • Fisheries
    • Forestry
    • Pesticides
    • Petroleum
    • Pharmaceuticals
    • Precious metals and gemstones
    • Tobacco
    • Trafficking in persons
    • Wildlife
  • Resources
    • News and Events
    • TRACIT Talking Points
    • Publications
    • Videos
  • Contact