A meeting was held yesterday, 29 April, which for INDICAM formalizes a renewal of intent with a key partner in the fight against counterfeiting such as the Customs and Monopolies Agency. 

The framework protocol between ADM and INDICAM was signed in the evocative setting of Piazza Mastai, headquarters of the Customs Central Directorate. The parties were represented by the Central Anti-Fraud Director of ADM, Sergio Gallo, and the President of INDICAM, Mario Peserico.

‘As part of its institutional mission, we are aware of how much ADM exercises its functional activity in the protection of intellectual property rights and Made in Italy on a daily basis. A watchdog function that, of course, the Agency would carry out under the law independently of us,’ are the words expressed by President Peserico when recalling how fundamental the support of the private sector is when dealing with a criminal phenomenon such as counterfeiting and, in general, IP violations.

We strongly believe in collaboration between public and private stakeholders; and this is demonstrated – among other things – by INDICAM’s ongoing training project called POLICE RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT.

A training and enforcement support project that consists of managing a calendar of training meetings at ADM Territorial Directorates on IP issues, aimed at providing know-how and tools to identify original products from fakes, alerting them to logistical and commercial flows that are not in line with those of companies.

This activity, linked to the constant operational support of INDICAM and its associates in the case of detentions and seizures, is one of the essential pillars of the signed protocol. In this sense, one tool that the Association makes available to the Authorities is the MERCURIUS APP, which offers operational support in the case of detention of suspicious goods.

However, the exchange of information and cooperation with the Agency is far from one-way. An example of this is the day we organized on 27 February 2025, together with the Customs Agency’s AEO and Compliance Office and the European Observatory EUIPO, on IPR enforcement in connection with the implementation of the IPEP platform, an online platform that enables law enforcement authorities, IPR holders and other stakeholders to collaborate and share information to combat counterfeiting and piracy.

Another issue where we engage synergistically with the Agency is the issue of destruction and management of seized goods. In this sense, INDICAM and ADM are interested in developing best practices for sustainable destruction. We would certainly like to see the launch of a pilot project with an initial evaluation and monitoring phase that could then be implemented on a national scale.

This commitment is also aimed at completely disincentivizing the practice of donating counterfeit products to charity, which we as an association reject out of hand. As INDICAM, we have always taken a stance to raise awareness among those who work at different levels in the anti-counterfeiting protection sector (police forces and judiciary), in order to draw attention to the risks that the practice of devolution to charity presents, instead of the confiscation and destruction of the counterfeit goods themselves (although we are aware of the difficulties involved in the storage and destruction of seized goods).

We will come back to discuss and confront these issues, identifying new solutions to the complexities that the IP community is well aware of.

Author: INDICAM