2015 Situation report on counterfeiting in the European union

This is an excerpt for a 70-page situation report on counterfeiting in the European Union. This situation report, prepared by Europol and the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (OHIM) through the European Observatory on Infringements of Intellectual Property Rights, relies essentially on contributions from Member States' enforcement authorities and the private sector. The report identifies the main traits and characteristics of the phenomenon and provides illustrative case studies. The excerpt in this special issue contains the sections on source and transit countries for counterfeit products, and on the counterfeit products supply chain. Footnotes and some references used in the original text have been omitted.