Over €130m spent on fake cosmetics per year
Almost 20% of Ireland’s cosmetic and personal care trade, worth €131 million, comprises counterfeit products.
The sale of such items is a booming racket across Europe, with Ireland above the EU average for the purchase of fake cosmetics, EU experts say.
The European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) said governments across the block lose €15 billion per year because of counterfeit goods due to reduced direct and indirect taxes and social contributions not paid by criminals running the scams.
It said a further €19 billion of sales are lost annually by the cosmetics and personal care, wine and spirits, pharma, and toys and games sectors due to counterfeiting.
EUIPO said the counterfeiting can support serious crime such as drug trafficking and money laundering.
It said lost sales in the cosmetics and personal care sector have increased by over €2.5 billion since the last such analysis published in 2019.
EUIPO said 14.1% of the cosmetic and personal care sector’s sales (€9.6bn) are lost annually across the EU due to counterfeit products. Here, that figure stands at 18.5%, around €131m per year.
