According to the statistics published by the European Commission the increase relating to goods infringing trademarks, patents, designs, and related rights reached the highest level ever, with an increase of 13 % over 2007. While customs detained some 43, 000 cases of goods in 2007, in 2008, customs detained nearly 50,000 cases of goods at the EU’s external border. The number of articles detained more than doubled in 2008 to 178 million.

In terms of cases, the most significant increases are seen in toys with an increase of 136%. Following toys, the amount of detained electrical equipment increased 58%,and the number of medicines detained increased 57 %. On the number hand, the number of articles detained increased in particular in DVDs with an increase of 2600 %.

China was the main source country for IPR infringing articles with 54% of the total amount. Following China, other countries noted for producing or exporting infringing goods were Indonesia for foodstuffs and beverages, the United Arab Emirates for cigarettes, and India for medicine.