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Tip-Off Leads to Successful Tracking of Counterfeit Oil and Gas Pipes

counterfeit

Tip-Off Leads to Successful Tracking of Counterfeit Oil and Gas Pipes

Cooperative efforts between the Dubai Customs’ IPR and Intelligence departments led to the successful identification and seizing of 58 counterfeit Vallourec oil and gas pipes before they enter the UAE market.

According to information released by Dubai Customs, a tip-off received by the IPR Department pointed to four specific vessel containers from an Asian country carried the counterfeit items. These suspicions were confirmed upon completion of a technical inspection revealing non-conformity with specification and quality requirements,  counterfeit trademarks branded on the steel pipes, and forged quality certificates.

“Counterfeiting has a damaging effect on business, the economy and the general population, and when it comes to oil and gas pipes, it can wreak havoc on the environment as well,” said Yousef Ozair Mubarak, Director of IPR Department.

“As soon as we received information about this shipment of fake pipes, we moved swiftly to seize and recycle the contraband to prevent any potential damage to the environment. This is our commitment towards manufacturers and rights-holders in order to provide them the best possible investment conditions in support of sustainable economic development.”

Vallourec is a French manufacturing company offering a wide range of steel  VAM® premium connections for Oil & Gas well equipment such as casing, tubing and accessories. These items are designed to withstand high temperatures and pressures to better support the petroleum industry. Compromising the quality of steel for these items, risks in worker safety and the petroleum industry are increased.

“Our control room spots and tracks any high-risk consignments of smuggled goods before their arrival to Dubai using the Smart Vessel Tracking System, which Dubai Customs developed for the purpose,” commented, Shuaib Al Suwaidi, Director of Customs Intelligence Department. “We were alerted by the IPR Department and acted accordingly to track down the suspected shipment and eventually intercepted a significant haul of illicit counterfeit steel pipes.”

 

COUNTERFEIT

TRADE IN COUNTERFEIT MEDICAL AND PROTECTIVE HEALTH GOODS SPIKING DURING PANDEMIC

Making matters worse

As the coronavirus pandemic continues to alter lives around the world, predators have seen opportunities to exploit the global health crisis by marketing and shipping counterfeit medical equipment, devices, and pharmaceuticals. In the few months since the beginning of the pandemic, illicit trade in counterfeit medical goods is both widespread and global in nature.

Authorities in the UAE shut down two factories, finding 40,000 fake sanitizers that were actually body sprays. In Cambodia, authorities seized three tons of fake sanitizer and nearly 17,000 gallons of fake alcohol. Australia’s Border Force intercepted shipments of counterfeit and otherwise faulty personal protective equipment.

Playing whack-a-mole with counterfeit goods

EUROPOL has cautioned that fake blood-screening tests, sanitizers, and pharmaceutical products are increasing in volume in the EU as criminals take advantage of shortages of genuine medical products. EUROPOL is monitoring the trade in counterfeit and substandard products by “listening” to social media platforms, following conversations that mention fake products. The agency reports many new online platforms have cropped up in response to coronavirus to profit illegally from illicit trade in fake medical goods.

Enforcement activity has also ramped up in the United States in response to the significant increase in criminals attempting to capitalize on the pandemic. In mid-April, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced Operation Stolen Promise, a joint effort by experts in global trade, financial fraud and cyber investigations to combat smuggling of counterfeit safety equipment and test kits. The operation quickly shut down over 11,000 COVID-19 domain names for illicit websites. After seizing test kits at an Indianapolis express consignment facility, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced it is “targeting imports and exports — mainly in the international mail and express consignment cargo environments — that may contain counterfeit or illicit goods”.

More data, better enforcement?

In early May, ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations announced an unprecedented partnership with private sector companies including Amazon and Alibaba to combat price gougers and scammers online. But will the effort be sufficient? The pandemic has exposed how vulnerable consumers are and how difficult the challenges are for law enforcement, prompting new discussion of potential changes to data collection practices that will better safeguard consumers while aiding law enforcement. Policymakers are also considering ways to shift more burden to the private sector engaged in online sales and trade.

The Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) Online Act was introduced in the U.S. Senate on May 13. The sponsors noted that with the pandemic causing Americans to stay home, online commercial activity has increased, but that products sold online are not sufficiently transparent. The COOL Online Act would require that buyers of products sold online be told the country where the product was manufactured and where the seller is located.

CBP is currently conducting the 321 E-Commerce Data Pilot which requires private sector participants in the pilot program to transmit a significant amount of data to CBP regarding products shipped to the United States. What is yet unclear is whether companies in the supply chain and e-commerce ecosystems will be required to verify that the information submitted to CBP is accurate and whether they will be required to take the step of rejecting products or packages before facilitating shipment to the United States.

Such a requirement obligates private sector entities to take some measure to screen and prevent the export of non-compliant or suspect goods before they leave the country of export. Absent such an obligation, most, if not all, of the burden will remain on CBP – and its counterparts around the world – to protect public safety.

Countering the counterfeiters

Medical communities around the world are still grappling with a virus that has no known cure while law enforcement agencies work to combat the growing volume of counterfeit and substandard medical equipment and pharmaceutical goods marketed by criminals. Meanwhile, international crime watchdog INTERPOL has ominously issued a warning that it expects global markets to be flooded with fake pharmaceuticals as soon as a vaccine does become available.

The policy landscape continues to shift in various ways in the wake of this health crisis. Governments are actively engaging with the private sector regarding potential changes to the collection and sharing of data — and, how both should act on that data — to more effectively prevent counterfeit and illicit goods from even leaving the country of origin in the first place.

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Tim Trainer

Tim Trainer was an attorney-advisor at the U.S. Customs Service and U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. He is a past president of the International AntiCounterfeiting Coalition. Tim is now the principal at Global Intellectual Property Strategy Center, P.C., and Galaxy Systems, Inc.

This article originally appeared on TradeVistas.org. Republished with permission.