Pact to fight counterfeits will hit World Cup fakes

New Zealand is close to signing an agreement involving nearly 40 countries that would increase Customs' ability to combat copyright and trademark crime, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade says.

The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (Acta) will also be opportune at a time when fake Rugby World Cup goods continue to flow into the country.

"Once brought into effect, Acta will provide a mechanism to help improve international co-operation and co-ordination amongst parties to tackle counterfeit and pirated goods," said a spokeswoman for Trade Minister Tim Groser.

"The Government has made very good progress at negotiations in Tokyo [this month] but there are still several outstanding issues in the text to be resolved amongst the parties. We are hopeful of knowing an outcome in the next few weeks."

The negotiations were launched in 2008 based on a Japanese concept in the preparation of the 2006 G8 summit, and later endorsed by the United States.

A key feature of the agreement would be to give customs officials the authority to seize counterfeit goods without a request from the rights holder or a court order, Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said.

It will also attempt to provide an "international standard" on cross-border copyright infringements made through the internet.

The agreement is expected to be signed by New Zealand together with the US, the European Union and its 27 member states, and others including Australia, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, Canada, Switzerland and two developing countries, Mexico and Morocco.

The participating countries said during talks in Japan that their economies had suffered from the sharp increase in trade in fake and pirated goods. The internet had played a role in making it easier for buyers and sellers of counterfeit goods to meet and also aided the distribution of pirated movies, music and computer software, they said.

In New Zealand, customs has intercepted more than 1.1 million counterfeit goods since 2003, which could have potentially caused billions of dollars in losses.

Last November, in excess of 1000 fake Rugby World Cup T-shirts were seized, which resulted in the prosecution of a company and its director, each fined $20,000.

Customs said it had been told that some fake World Cup goods had slipped through, and were being sold in shops and markets.

"Some counterfeit Rugby World Cup product has been identified in sales outlets resulting in warning letters to remove being issued by the enforcement unit of the Ministry of Economic Development," a customs spokeswoman said.

"We are actively working together to detect, seize and prosecute all instances of importing and dealing in counterfeit Rugby World Cup merchandise."

She said the importation of counterfeit and pirated goods generally reflected periods of boom and bust in the New Zealand economy.

Clothing and hats are perennial favourites, but trends include electronic gaming accessories, hair stylers, razor blades and toothbrush heads.