Macedonian Customs Seize Counterfeit Goods

During regular inspections in the period between November 9 and December 9, 2009 the Macedonian customs officials seized a considerable quantity of goods believed to be counterfeit.

The goods were found at Macedonia’s customs offices and border crossings with Bulgaria, Greece and Kosovo.

In the week of November 9-15, the customs officials detected and seized around 33,000 items, including socks bearing the marks Nike and Pierre Cardin, sweaters and tops bearing the marks Ralph Lauren, Armani, D&G, Tommy Hilfiger, Tom Tailor and Ralph Lauren Polo, woolen hats bearing the logos of Versace, Nike and Armani, and jeans bearing the logos of Dolce&Gabanna and Cavalli. The officials also found motor vehicle parts and doors bearing the logo of the following trademarks: Audi, BMW, Chevrolet, Citroen, Ford, Hyundai, Lada, Mercedes, Nissan, Opel, Peugeot, Renault, Rover, Seat, Skoda and Zastava, as well as toner cartridges bearing the mark Canon.

In the week of November 16-22, the customs officials confiscated about 3,000 items, including technical appliances bearing the marks of Nokia, Luxell and Panasonic, and clothing and footwear bearing the labels Lacoste, Armani, D&G, Nike, Timberland and Adidas.

In the week of November 23-29, the officials detected and seized about 900 items, including jeans bearing the logo of Esprit, mobile phones bearing the logos of Sony Ericsson, Nokia, I-Phone and LG and children’s boots bearing the logo of Dior.

In the week of November 30 to December 6, the officials confiscated about 3000 different products, including sneakers with the logos of Adidas and Kappa, sweaters, tops and shirts bearing the logos of D&G and Lacoste, light bulbs bearing the logo of Philips and mobile phones and mobile phone accessories bearing the logos of Sony, Sony PS 2, Sony PS 3, Nokia, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Motorola and I-Phone.

On December 9, the customs officials seized about 2,000 products, among which PlayStation games, joysticks, mobile phones and mobile phone accessories bearing the logos of Sony, Nokia, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Motorola and I-Phone.

The goods, which were found in vehicles with Macedonian and Turkish license plates, originated in the United Arab Emirates, China and Turkey and were intended for the Macedonian and Kosovo markets.

For more information, please contact Aleksandra Noveska at our Macedonia office.

Source: Macedonia Customs