Campus Digest

EUAP co-organises International Cooperation to Fight Counterfeiting: the Real Deal Conference

26 May 2014

The European Union Academic Programme Hong Kong (EUAP) recently held the International Cooperation to Fight Counterfeiting: the Real Deal Conference with the European Chamber of Commerce Hong Kong and the World Customs Organization to raise awareness and foster cooperation between nations in fighting counterfeiting. The conference invited 17 experts from customs offices as well as legal, business and academic sectors as speakers and attracted more than 180 participants.

At the conference, Mr Stefan Amarasinha, Head of the Trade and Economic Section of the European Union Office to Hong Kong and Macao, pointed out that the European Union’s economy is highly dependent on intellectual property rights-intensive industries, hence intellectual property rights protection is extremely crucial. He said the European Union would continue to strengthen cooperation in fighting counterfeiting with national and international partners via multilateral and bilateral agreements.

In addition, several speakers analysed the recent growing trend of and figures on counterfeiting, raised the importance of the role and actions of the public, customs offices and academics, and shared their experience in intellectual property rights protection. In concluding the conference, all speakers agreed that there is a need to further raise awareness of the dangers of counterfeit products and to enhance collaboration on a larger scale.