Major Counterfeit Goods Bust at the Port of Miami
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers recently seized over 2,300 counterfeit Gucci and Louis Vuitton handbags in one of the largest seizures this year at the Port of Miami.
The handbags arrived August 19 in a container shipment from China that consisted of 825 cartons of clothes, shoes, trousers and handbags.
According to the CBP, officers conducting an examination of the cargo determined that 20 sealed cartons weren’t declared on any of the import documentation. This prompted CBP officers to submit the handbags to CBP import specialists for an Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) review.
The IPR review revealed 1,200 counterfeit Gucci handbags and 1,195 Louis Vuitton handbags with an estimated Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price (MSRP) of more than $1 million.
China, Hong Kong, Canada, India and United Arab Emirates were the top five countries of origination for counterfeit goods seized by CBP last fiscal year. China, alone, accounted for 63 percent of the total manufacturer’s suggested retail value for all IPR seizures during the year, the agency said.
Nationwide, wearing apparel and accessories comprised 28 percent of the number of counterfeit seizures by CBP last year. With an estimated MSRP of $113 million, the product category represented 9 percent of the total value of goods seized.
Following wearing apparel and fashion accessories on the list of counterfeit goods illegally entering the U.S. are consumer electronics, pharmaceuticals and personal care products, footwear, watches and jewelry, optical media, computers and peripherals, labels and tags, and toys, according to the latest CBP data.
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