Chinese Customs have been ramping up efforts to stop counterfeit goods from crossing its borders, with a three-year long campaign codenamed "Breeze". One year into it, the outcome is already promising.
Millions of goods pass through Huanggang port everyday. Customs staff here are checking their labels. This batch of Canon cameras and lenses for export have aroused their suspicion.
"Usually, these products are made in Japan. So we got in touch with the legal department, and then they contacted people from Canon to evaluate the goods," Customs staff Peng Haisheng said.
Found to be counterfeit, Customs seized these. Elsewhere, the stringent checks are the same. In Wenzhou, staff sniffed out problems in a shipment of sneakers.
"We found these sneakers labelled Nike and Adidas. After confirming with the relevant trademark holders, we found that these were fake, about 14 thousand pairs," Wehzhou customs staff said.
In 2015, Chinese Customs flagged up problems 25-thousand times, and seized about 70 million counterfeit items. About 98% of the goods infringed upon trademark rights.