2023-11-23 18:58:00
This Friday is Black Friday. A promotional day which more and more often extends over several days. Attractive prices in stores but also and especially on the internet. That said, be careful when you buy online, check that they are real products. Customs reminds us that it is at this time of year that the most counterfeits are imported into Belgium.
Scanning packages and carefully inspecting dozens of items per day is the daily life of agents. Between January and September 2023, 19,000 infringements were noted among us (i.e. more than 626,000 counterfeit products). Black Friday heralds the start of a complicated period for customs. “2/3 of declarations are made during this period of November and December. Black Friday plays a very important role”explains Kristian Vanderwaeren, the general administrator of customs.
8 out of 10 counterfeits come from China and 1 out of 10 from Türkiye. Among the most seized items are children’s toys, perfumes and clothing.
“Often in counterfeit products, when you put them on your skin, there can be health consequences,” says Kristian Vanderwaeren.
Another consequence: these low-cost imitations of major brands are synonymous with damage to the Belgian economy. “We see the loss of employment of 8,000 people, but also on income, there are 2 billion euros lost. This is not only a negative impact on the health of consumers, but also on the economy”specifies Vincent Van Peteghem, the Federal Minister of Finance.
Every year, during this period, customs strengthens its controls to detect increasingly sophisticated counterfeit products.
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