During the course of Operation BIYELA 2, three containers were identified as high-risk and subsequently inspected by Mozambique Customs officers.  The inspection found   more than 20,000 pairs of footwear of a famous sportswear brand.

Brand representatives in Mozambique confirmed that the goods were counterfeit and were thus seized by the Mozambique Customs Administration. Appropriate court procedures are now underway by representatives of the brand in Mozambique and which will likely lead to the destruction of the counterfeit goods.

The new WCO IPM mobile application was tested while inspections were conducted in the field, and helped Customs officers to identify declared products that infringed intellectual property rights. The compared and identified high-risk indicators were the quality of the products, inappropriate labels, types of packaging, mixture with other products, and transportation routes – all of which was easy to identify due to the IPM mobile application.

The IPM Mobile application is currently being piloted in several countries and should be deployed to all IPM Member countries in September 2014.