SUMMARY:

• Last week, the European Commission has published the 2025 Counterfeit and Piracy Watch List, together with its biennial Report on the Protection and Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) in Third Countries (see attached).
• China remains a top priority regarding IP protection, followed closely by India and Turkey (2^nd priority) and Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, Indonesia, Nigeria and Thailand (3^rd priority).
• As in previous editions, and despite repeated notifications from rightsholders, including FESI, the Commission has decided not to list major platforms in the Watch List (e.g., Alibaba, Amazon, Meta) due to their reported measures taken “in line with the industry best practices” and cooperation with LEAs and RHs.
• Both the Watch List and the 3^rd Country Report are based on public consultation exercises conducted in 2024, to which FESI has contributed. Should you FESI to follow-up bilaterally with DG TRADE on specific issues addressed in these documents, please let me know.

MORE INFORMATION:

1.       3^rd country report:

The 3^rd country report contains an updated list of 'priority countries', namely countries in which the state of IPR protection and enforcement gives rise to the greatest level of concern for the EU

• Priority : China
• Priority 2: India, Turkey
• Priority 3: Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, Indonesia, Nigeria, Thailand

Among the main issues reported, stakeholders, including FESI, have in particular highlighted the insufficient human and financial resources, as well as the lack of training of the relevant IP authorites in countries such as Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, Mexico and Türkiye.

Other stakeholders, including FESI, also report that counterfeit and pirated goods are often not destroyed by the enforcement authorities and find their way back to the market. On other occasions, destruction procedures take too long or may be dissuasively expensive for rightholders. Stakeholders also report too low anctions and penalties imposed for IPR infringements.

2.       IP Watch List:

The Watch list names both online service providers and physical marketplaces located outside the European Union that reportedly engage in or facilitate substantial IP rights infringements, especially through counterfeiting and piracy.

• Online marketplaces:

• Not included: As in previous years, several stakeholders nominated platforms operated by Alibaba (Aliexpress.com, Tmall.com, Taobao.com, 1688.com), Amazon (Amazon.com), Meta (Facebook), Mercado Libre, which, according to them, still have many counterfeit goods on offer. However, the Commission notes that “Taking into consideration the engagement of these operators in the fight against counterfeiting, these platforms can overall be considered as adhering to a good industry standard, while they still need to continue making efforts and cooperate further with rightsholders and law enforcement authorities”.
• Further monitoring needed: Some e-commerce platforms, previously listed as having made progress but requiring further monitoring, provided updates on the measures taken and fulfilment of the commitments made to enhance efforts against piracy and counterfeiting since the last edition of the Watch List. These include some platforms notified by FESI, such as Shopee and Tokopedia.
• No progress reported: Regarding e-commerce platforms, which are deemed not to have taken enough measures and have not made submissions, stakeholders continue to report a number of platforms in Russia with high numbers of counterfeits but which either are reluctant to take any measures or are not responsive to requests for removals of counterfeits. These include: Avito.ru, Tiu.ru, Youla.ru. Stakeholders also continue to report Deal.by (Belarus) and Satu.kz (Kazakhstan).
• Social media platforms: the Watch List reports Telegram and VK .com but fails to include Instagram (despite being flagged by FESI) as per their justification not to include Meta.

• Physical marketplaces:

• Reported by FESI: Several marketplaces notified by FESI have been included in the watch list, namely: La Salada (Agentina), Shopping 25 de Março and Nova Serrana (Brazil), Mule Town - Xinbaijia Apparel - Anfu market - Anxin County (China); Karol Bagh market - Heera Panna Market and Chawls of Mumbai (India), Tanah Abang Market (Indonesia), e El Tepito (Mexico), Souk Korea and Derb Soltan Fida (Morocco), Baclaran - Greenhills Shopping Mall, Sadovod (Russia); Ak Çarşı - Bedesten Çarşısı (Turkey), China Mall (UAE).

The 2025 edition also includes latest trends and new types of services that contribute to counterfeiting and piracy, as well as best practices employed by intermediaries to fight IP rights infringement.

NEXT STEPS :

• The Commission said it will use the Third Country Report and the Watch List to continue its cooperation with the EU's trading partners in the framework of intellectual property rights dialogues and working groups, as well as within the framework of ongoing technical cooperation programmes.

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