Italy’s new administration is going after counterfeit goods, mostly fashion and shoes, in a big way, especially around the nation’s beach areas—and it plans to start fining buyers as well as sellers, with fines ranging up to €7,000 for buyers and €15,000 for vendors.
Conferscenti, a lobby of trade groups, claims that illegal trade in the tourism sector amounts to about €22 billion, and that the government loses €11.5 billion in taxes because of the black market goods. A figure of €3.3 billion is claimed for counterfeit bags, clothes and shoes.
The figures are almost certainly high, but the issue is nonetheless not small; in the past year alone, government raids have seized 500,000 counterfeit shoes, bags, clothing and accessories, and arrested over 10,000 people, mostly poor immigrant vendors.
The new campaign is funded in part by EU grants intended for improved police coordination between national and municipal police. The campaign also includes crackdowns on hubs for production of counterfeits in cities such as Prato and Naples.
