Japanese Customs seized more than 30,000 infringing items in 2020

Recently, the Japanese Ministry of Finance summarized the Japanese Customs' prohibition of items infringing intellectual property rights in 2020 and published it on the official website of Japan Customs.

In 2020, the number of import bans by Japanese Customs reached a total of 30,305 items, an increase of 26.6% compared to 2019, and exceeded 30,000 for the first time in nearly three years.

Imports from China still account for a high proportion of goods

In terms of quantity, as a major manufacturing country, the number of banned items from China accounted for 85.2% (25,828 items) of the total , an increase of 30.4% from 2019.

Next were Vietnam with 1,374 applications ( accounting for 4.5%, up 152.1%), Singapore with 845 applications (accounting for 2.8%, up 42.7% year-on-year), and the Philippines with 635 applications (accounting for 2.1%, down 8.1% year-on-year).

According to the reasons for prohibition of these products , trademark infringements such as counterfeit brand products accounted for the largest number, totaling 29,483 cases, accounting for 96.7%, up 27.2% year-on- year , accounting for the majority of the total . The second largest number was 576 cases of counterfeit character products and other copyright-infringing items, accounting for 1.9%, up 14.1% year-on-year .

In terms of the categories of these products, the largest number of bags such as wallets and handbags was 9,931 pieces , accounting for 29.2%, an increase of 3.0% over the previous year . The second largest number was clothing , accounting for 9,166 pieces , accounting for 27.0%, an increase of 54.1% over the previous year . The number of watches was 4,057 pieces , accounting for 11.9% .

Among them, the number of import bans on watches increased most significantly, more than twice the number in 2019.

As for the modes of transportation for the import of these products, they are mainly mail and general cargo. Among them, the number of mails is 28,090, accounting for 92.7%, an increase of 33.2% compared with 2019. The number of general cargoes is 2,215, accounting for 7.3%, a decrease of 22.1% year-on-year.

In addition to the above, Japanese customs also stated that the import of Olympic and Paralympic related products will continue to be prohibited . Replica medals , pins , straps and other counterfeit products related to the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics are still prohibited from import. In addition, the import of auto parts, electrical products, and pharmaceuticals that threaten health and safety if used or ingested will continue to be prohibited.

Currently, Japanese customs are cracking down on goods that infringe intellectual property rights such as trademarks, copyrights, design rights, and patents. According to the Anti-Unfair Competition Prevention Law, these goods are not allowed to be imported. As a seller, you should pay more attention when selecting products!

Japanese Customs

intellectual property

import