Delegates to the Latin America Regional Forum co-hosted by Interpol and Brazil have agreed on a series of measures aimed at combating intellectual property crime, counterfeiting and piracy in the region.
More than 400 senior law enforcement officers and government and industry representatives from eight South American countries gathered in Rio de Janeiro for the two-day conference, the third in a series of regional conferences organised under the auspices of the First Global Congress on Combating Counterfeiting held in Brussels in May 2004.
The conference produced โThe Rio Declaration,โ which described the scope of the counterfeiting problem in South America and recommended a series of steps to enhance the effectiveness of the fight against such crime.
The document called for more co-operation and co-ordination between police, customs officials, governments and industry, and for tougher legislation and more rigorous enforcement of existing laws and customs regulations which relate to counterfeiting and piracy.
Interpol Secretary General Ronald K. Noble reported to delegates on the outcomes of โOperation Jupiter-South America,โ a recent major anti-counterfeiting operation in the Tri-border area of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay made possible by close collaboration between Interpol, its National Central Bureaus in the region, and national police, customs officers and industry groups. It led to the disruption and seizure of hundreds of thousands of counterfeit products belonging to transnational organized criminals and dozens of arrests. Delegates endorsed the Operation Jupiter initiative and recommended that Interpol extend such anti-counterfeiting efforts to other regions, including southeast Asia and Africa. As the conference was taking place, the government of Brazil confirmed that it would send a specialised police officer to Interpolโs General Secretariat in Lyon, France, to work in the Intellectual Property Crime Unit.
What they say
Mr Noble said: "We are delighted that Brazil has agreed to support Interpolโs efforts by sending a police officer to Lyon. It is a sign of the strong commitment of Brazil to tackle the counterfeiting problem, and our IP Crime Unit will be even more effective with someone from the Latin American region on the team." Interpol established its Interpol Intellectual Property Crime Action Group (IIPCAG) in 2002. Since its inception, IIPCAG, together with the Interpol IP Crime Unit, Interpolโs National Central Bureaus and its regional bureaus, have developed a comprehensive IP crime programme. The Global Congress Steering Group – comprising Interpol, the World Customs Organization (WCO), the World Intellectual Property Organization, Global Business Leaders Alliance Against Counterfeiting and other global business sector representative bodies – was formed in 2004 to implement recommendations from the First Global Congress for a more effective collective response to counterfeiting worldwide. Reports on anti-counterfeiting initiatives will be presented to the Second Global Congress on Combating Counterfeiting, to be co-hosted by Interpol and the WCO with the support of the other members of the Steering Group, in Lyon, France, on 14-15 November 2005.
