Email
Seizures of counterfeit alcohol by UK trading standards authorities have soared fivefold over five years, according to figures to be published later this week. The statistics show that international criminal gangs are helping to fuel consumer demand for cheap drink.
Counterfeit alcohol now accounts for 73% of all investigations by UK trading standards authorities (up from 51% in 2009-10), despite the risks of death and blindness from toxic and industrial solvents in fake spirits, which are typically bottled and packaged to resemble well-known brands but sold for a fraction of the price.
The findings will be presented on Wednesday at an intellectual property summit in London, which aims to strengthen cooperation between law enforcement, food and drug agencies and private companies so that they can identify and crack down on counterfeit activity, which is not only illegal but increasingly a risk to public health.
The event, which will be attended by 300 representatives of 30 different countries, also aims to raise awareness of the sophisticated criminal networks at work.
British health ministers and NHS managers are worried that the recession has led to counterfeit goods becoming mainstream as consumers happily risk their health for the sake of cheap alcohol, tobacco, medicines, electrical goods and, increasingly, sub-standard and adulterated food.
A report on intellectual property crime for the summit highlights trends over the past five years on the top counterfeit items investigated by councils. While seizures of fake alcohol have increased, seizures of DVDs, CDs and computer games have declined by about a third as physical products are replaced by digital.
The data has been produced and analysed by the government's Intellectual Property Office (IPO), and will be included in a full annual report in September.
Counterfeit or "knock-off" goods have long been sold at car boot sales, pubs, markets or fairs, making it difficult for fraudsters to be traced. But fake merchandise has also moved online, presenting huge challenges for auction sites such as eBay, which are trying to crack down on counterfeiting and piracy. The fresh data shows a shift away from door-to-door sales and car boot sales towards social media and private homes.
The two-day summit – which will be addressed by the business secretary Vince Cable on Wednesday – will cover best practice and form new collaborations to tackle counterfeiting, not just for fake items such as alcohol and clothing but in the digital world, too. The overriding message will be that intellectual property crime is not the preserve of harmless "Del Boy" characters but of organised gangs, working across international borders and making serious money.
Delegates will be told, for example, how at the end of April, Border Force officers at Dover, Kent seized 33,640 empty bottles with fake branding of a well known vodka label. The lorryload came from Latvia, where the bottles were manufactured, but the destination was unknown.
The seizure was considered a significant disruption of part of a serious and organised crime operation. It is estimated that the potential loss to the UK Exchequer, in duty, would have been in the region of £500,000. The Intellectual Property Office has since been working with Europol and Irish authorities to assess the scale of the fake vodka problem.
Huw Watkins, head of the IPO's intelligence hub, said: "In terms of the risk to the health to the public, the threat of fake spirits undoubtedly causes me the greatest concern. The extremely high levels of alcohol content can lead to long-lasting damage and even death."
The summit will also hear about the growing problem of food adulteration, which is being tackled internationally under an operation called Opson (which means food in ancient Greek) run by Interpol and Europol.
• This article was amended on 12 June 2014 to correct Huw Watkins's name, from Huw Hughes as an earlier version said.
;