INTERPOL training supports police in fight against counterfeiting and piracy

To counter this, 'INTERPOL is working in partnership with the World Health Organization, public health authorities, police, customs agencies and the private sector to disrupt the supply chains used to distribute often dangerous products to unsuspecting consumers,' said Mr Louboutin.

'We have seen significant results from operations conducted in South America and Southeast Asia and INTERPOL along with all of our 186 National Central Bureaus will continue to develop these partnerships to combat counterfeiting throughout the world.'

Nearly 300 representatives from Italian law enforcement, industry and government attended the one-day Counterfeiting: Developments and New Challenges International Symposium co-hosted by INTERPOL and Guardia di Finanza in Ostia, Rome. It highlighted progress made so far with partnerships with Italian authorities and identified ways of further collaborating to fight IP crime.

To facilitate and co-ordinate regional law enforcement interventions against IP crime, INTERPOL is establishing a network of IP crime specialist contacts around the world.  This network will provide representatives from industries affected by intellectual property crimes with rapid access to police investigative support for collective efforts to target organized counterfeiting and piracy.

INTERPOL IP Crime Project Manager John Newton said: 'Counterfeiting is a menace not just to livelihoods and company profits, but it threatens people’s lives. It is essential we provide operational police, customs officers and other stakeholders with the knowledge, expertise and tools to combat those who manufacture and distribute counterfeit and pirate goods on an industrialized scale.'

The symposium coincided with the First INTERPOL Intellectual Property Crime Training Course, co-hosted by Guardia di Finanza and member organizations of the INTERPOL IP Crime Action Group, held at the Scuola di Polizia Tributaria, Ostia. 

Police specialists representing 15 countries from South and North America, Southeast Asia and Europe with responsibility for investigating IP Crime attended the course which is the first of a series of four to be held over the next 12 months to train more than 100 police and customs officials from around the world.