Customs authorities take heavy action to protect IP rights

China's customs authorities took a total of 65,300 actions to protect the intellectual property rights of exported and imported products in 2020, the General Administration of Customs announced on Monday.

A total of 61,900 batches of goods suspected of IPR infringement have been seized by Chinese customs authorities in 2020, involving 56.18 million items, data from the administration showed.

Jin Hai, director-general of the GAC's department of general operations, said this is part of the government's campaign to take a firm hand against the smuggling of illegal products to protect the image of "Made In China" products internationally.

The official said customs branches across China will further enhance the crackdown on third-party involved illegal transshipment acts against IPR protection rules, form a regional law enforcement network with other trading partners and effectively prevent illegal activities in the port areas this year.

For the healthy growth of the e-commerce sector, Jin said the GAC will continue to fight against internet-related IPR infringements by working with e-commerce platforms and applying integrated online and offline supervision measures.