Enforcing intellectual property rights through Customs has always been, and for the time being will remain, difficult.
EuroCham arranged a luncheon with representatives of the Directorate-General of Customs & Excise on 27 January 2016. Discussions were focussed on logistics and administrative issues, but there was a comment from Bapak Kukuh Sumardono (Director of Customs Facilities) that we thought was particularly interesting in the context of IP - that Customs & Excise is a revenue collecting arm of government and not a social service. This reflects a key challenge in having intellectual property rights enforced - seizure of counterfeit product doesn’t feature in the KPIs that are set for Customs Officers.
It remains possible to seize incoming shipments based on ex officio powers of officers. But the level of intelligence required (e.g. container number, copy of bill of lading) makes it very difficult. An alternative strategy is to track shipments as they leave port, and arrange a seizure through police authorities.