The Bureau of Economic Security (BEB) intends to create a contact center and a library of tobacco samples, which will improve communication, improve the quality of monitoring and ensure a faster response to cases of illegal circulation of counterfeit products. About this reported Oleksandr Tkachuk, head of the main unit of detectives of the BEB.
During the forum dedicated to the protection of intellectual property in the conditions of war, Oleksandr Tkachuk said that today the main attention is focused on the detection of underground production and sales networks of counterfeit products. The activity of 16 large-scale productions of counterfeit goods of well-known global brands in the Kyiv, Zakarpattia, Odesa, Mykolaiv, Chernivtsi and Kirovohrad regions was documented and stopped.
According to him, the main sales channels for counterfeit goods remain large wholesale markets and online trade. The sources of counterfeit products entering the Ukrainian market are underground shops, as well as contraband deliveries, mainly from China and Turkey.
Andriy Pashchuk, the deputy director of the BEB, noted that the Bureau takes an active part not only in the detection and investigation of such offenses, but also in the improvement of legislation in this area. According to him, BEB specialists have already analyzed the national legislation in order to harmonize it with the norms of EU directives and regulations.
“There are a number of inconsistencies between European and Ukrainian legislation regarding the determination of criminal liability for crimes against intellectual property. To eliminate them, we propose to create a working group with the participation of UKRNOIVI specialists and specialized organizations.” Pashchuk noted.
Yevhen Kuzmenko, manager of regulatory affairs at JTI Ukraine, added that one of the effective tools for combating tobacco counterfeiting could be the creation of a special library of samples of finished tobacco products produced in Ukraine.
“All Ukrainian cigarette manufacturers will be obliged to provide samples of their products to this library. This will allow for the prompt identification of illegal products and the equipment on which they were manufactured. This approach will significantly strengthen the capabilities of law enforcement agencies in the fight against the illegal market and will help reduce the level of shadow trade in tobacco products in Ukraine.”, he emphasized.
