European Union: Regulation (EU) No. 608/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 June 2013 concerning Customs Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights and Repealing Council Regulation (EC) No. 1383/2003

January 1, 2014

European Union: The Regulation (EU) No. 608/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 June 2013 concerning Customs Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights and Repealing Council Regulation (EC) No. 1383/2003 came into force on January 1, 2014, in the European Union. The Regulation No. 608/2013 makes some changes to the repealed regulation to give Customs authorities extended powers to enable them to deal with counterfeit or pirated goods at the borders of the European Union.

It provides simplified proceedings for the destruction without a prior court decision, of goods suspected of infringing rights, and these are stipulated as mandatory measures for all Member States; introduces a new procedure for the destruction of small consignments of counterfeit goods without contacting the right-holders; sets out procedures on goods in transit and especially gives the customs offices some instructions with regard to medicines in transit; and provides for other issues involving the clarification of right-holders' use of information provided by the customs authorities regarding a suspect consignment, the extension of the scope of protection of regulation for a wider range of goods and intellectual property rights, the burden of the costs on the right-holders, and the establishment of a new centralized electronic database to facilitate the exchange of information between the customs authorities of the EU member states.