Mr. Kunio Mikuriya, Secretary General of the World Customs Organization (WCO), Mr. Franck Dassler, President of the Federation of the European Sporting Goods Industry (FESI), Mr. André Raduan, Executive Director of the Associação Brasileira de Artigos Esportivos (MOVE), and Mr. Vyacheslav Starshinov, President of the Russian Association of Sports Industry Enterprises (RASIE), signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), aimed at strengthening their close cooperation in the fight against counterfeiting, during the 7th Global Congress on Combating Counterfeiting and Piracy in Istanbul on 25 April 2013.

The signing of this MOU is designed to enhance efficiency in the battle against counterfeiting through strengthened collaboration between these Organizations, largely based on two major areas of cooperation: the promotion of the Interface Public-Members (IPM), the WCO’s online interface between Customs and the private sector, and the exchange of information to assist in the training of Customs officers prior to major sporting events.

"Speaking on behalf of my members and those of my fellow organizations, we are pleased that the signing of this MOU reinforces our ongoing collaboration with the WCO in our fight against counterfeiting. We will now fully benefit from the WCO’s network of official experts on matters of counterfeiting and its online tool, IPM, to help foster communication between the sporting goods industry and Customs administrations around the world" said Franck Dassler, President of FESI.

"Faced with the growing trade in counterfeit goods flooding world markets, especially during major international sports events, the WCO and its Members are determined to work with all the organizations concerned to fight this threat. The extensive experience of FESI, MOVE and RASIE in sporting events will largely contribute to training our Customs officers even more efficiently to detect counterfeit goods, thereby offering increased protection to consumers" said WCO Secretary General, Kunio Mikuriya.

Besides consolidating these Organizations’ work in these two major areas of collaboration, the MOU will also facilitate the accomplishment of joint, innovative and complementary actions in their fight against counterfeiting.