World Trade Organization Organisation Mondiale du Commerce Organización Mundial del Comercio

(Question 21: Page 117, paragraph 270)

According to the Secretariat's Report, "the customs authorities promulgated guidelines" and "these guidelines authorize customs officials to seize goods infringing the trade marks of the right holder at the border without a court order." In the same paragraph, the report says that "according to the authorities, there have been no such instances." Please describe why there have been no such instances although the customs officials are authorized to do so. Please also provide the details and conditions of this procedure, including whether a request of a right holder is necessary. Meanwhile, in the same paragraph, the report says "Goods amounting to Rs 434 million were seized by Customs during May 2007 to March 2010''. Please also describe why there are conflicting descriptions in that paragraph. (Japan would like to make sure whether Goods amounting Rs 434 million are seized with a court order or not.) In addition, there are no detailed statistics about intellectual property (trade marks, copyright, etc.) nor about final disposal (the destruction of illegal goods, or handing over to an intellectual property holder, etc.) Please also describe what efforts, if any, the Indian government has been making or will make in order to make seizure of infringing goods more effective, such as through personnel training.

Reply: Notification No. 47/2007 Customs (NT) dated 08.05.2007 read with notification No. 51/2010 Customs (NT) dated 30.06.2010 prohibits import of goods infringing the intellectual property rights. The Intellectual Property Rights (Imported Goods) Enforcement Rules, 2007 (IPR Rules, 2007), notified under notification No. 47/2007 Customs (NT), details the procedure and conditions for enforcement of IPRs Under the said Rules, action to suspend the clearance of goods suspected to be infringing IPRs is taken at the request of the right holder. The customs officers may also, on their own initiative, suspend the clearance of goods, in respect of which they have prima facie evidence or reasonable grounds to believe that the imported goods are goods infringing IPRs (details may be viewed at www.cbec.gov.in).

The assertion that Customs has not booked any offence case for infringement of IPRs without court order is not correct. The seizure figures indicated in the text are those which have been booked by Customs under the IPR Rules without court orders.