Chamber and Interpol to Collaborate on Global Anti-counterfeiting and Piracy Enforcement Effort

WASHINGTON, DC-The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has created a partnership with Interpol, the world's largest police organization, to combat counterfeiting and piracy across the globe.

"The Chamber's new collaboration with Interpol will allow law enforcement and business to work together to detect and investigate the criminal networks engaged in counterfeiting and piracy globally," said David Hirschmann, senior vice president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. "Counterfeiting and piracy is big business and law enforcement needs the intelligence tools and resources to track down and bring these criminals to justice."

Interpol's Director for Specialized Crime David Gork made the announcement at a Chamber forum on international enforcement. The primary goals of the partnership are to: create a new crime unit dedicated to increasing international law enforcement capabilities; combat criminal activity linked to the theft of intellectual property; increase the number of investigations-especially those involving organized crime-in Interpol's four regions; and to improve the exchange of intelligence on counterfeiting and piracy crimes.

The partnership will focus on two key areas. First, Interpol will collect intelligence from businesses and its 186 member countries to pool and analyze counterfeiting and piracy trends and data on a global scale. Second, this partnership will allow Interpol to increase the number of staff dedicated to fighting counterfeiting and piracy-eventually leading to a full time anti-counterfeiting and piracy police force. The Chamber has made a significant, long-term financial commitment to this multi-year, multi-million dollar effort.

Since the early 1990s, trade in counterfeits has grown at eight times the speed of legitimate trade, according to Interpol. Twenty years ago commercial losses around the world due to counterfeiting were estimated in the $5 billion dollar range. Today, they are around $500 billion.

The U.S. Chamber is the world's largest business federation, representing more than 3 million businesses and organizations of every size, sector, and region.

www.uschamber.com

# # #

06-164