Some 13 per cent of Irish consumers have been misled into buying counterfeit goods or services, a significantly higher figure than the EU average of 9 per cent, according to a report published Tuesday by the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO). Eastern European countries had the highest number of misled consumers, with Bulgaria (19 per cent), Romania (16 per cent) and Hungary (15 per cent) topping the list. According to the study, one third of EU citizens wondered whether products or services they had bought were genuine. In Ireland 5.1 per cent of the population access unauthorised IPTV compared to the EU average of 3.6 per cent. “The pandemic has demonstrated that fake goods such as PPE, sanitisers and testing equipment are not only illegal but potentially dangerous as well.

Source: The Irish Times June 08, 2021 06:56 UTC