By EuAsiaNews,
Brussels : Switzerland, India and the United Arab Emirates top the list for exports of fake medicines ( 40, 35 and 15% respectively of the total amount seized) to the European Union in 2007.
The European Commission, the EU’s executve body, released a report Monday which said in 2007, EU customs registered over 43,000 cases of fake goods seized at the EU’s external border, compared to 37,000 in 2006.
In particular, medicines seizures have shown a dramatic increase of over 50%.
In terms of overall quantities seized, China remains the main source for counterfeit goods, with almost 60 % of all articles seized coming from there.
“I am happy with the progress recently made with China to strengthen international cooperation with the aim of stopping this problem at its source,” EU Taxation and Customs Commissioner, Laszlo Kovacs, told a press conference presenting the report.
He said he did not think that fake medicines are being produced in legal factories in India.
“India has got a developed pharmaceutical industry, but probably it did not produce these fake medicines, because most of them are not produced in legal factories of the pharmaceutical industry in India,” he said.
Fake medicines are also being produced in Switzerland, noted the Commisisoner.
“I was shocked when I read the statistics. There was one huge consignment of certain pills. Investigation is going on. ”
“I had the feeling it was more a transit using Switzerland as a transit stop and not medicines originating from Switzerland. But as far as the case is now it is original product made in Switzerland,” he said, adding “certainly not by one of the giants of the pharmaceutical industry.”
Kovacs said he did not know whether it was one single case or regular practice.
“Counterfeiting continues to pose a dangerous threat to our health, safety and our economy,” he stressed.
However, the number of fake articles seized in the EU decreased from 128 million articles in 2006 to around 79 million in 2007.
This is due to a growing number of seizures involving smaller quantities of counterfeit and pirated articles. Cigarettes and clothing continue to be faked in large quantities, said the report.
In the category “foodstuff and beverages”, Turkey was the main source followed by China; for the category “cosmetics and personal care products”, Georgia followed by Turkey and China were the main sources.
Medicines for erectile dysfunction (Viagra) continue to be the most popular counterfeited medicines. However, other serious medicines such as anti-cholesterol, anti-osteoporosis or medicines to control hypertension are also found as counterfeit medicines, noted the EU report.