Sure, I'm happy to discuss that. Thank you. I think that's an excellent question.
In the hypothetical example, which accounts for 70% of the cases in Europe, the importer, after receiving a notice of seizure, does not respond to customs. When there's confirmation from the rights holder that the good is counterfeit, that's where you get the administrative regime. After there is confirmation, for what purpose do we require the rights holder to go to court to get a judge to say the item is counterfeit when the rights holders confirm it's counterfeit? That system works in those jurisdictions. Certainly, if there is an issue between an importer and a rights holder on whether the goods are counterfeit, okay, then that's a battle to be decided between the two. But this bill does not include parallel imports or “grey market goods”, the trademark term for that issue. We're talking about counterfeits and the counterfeits in Canada can be really good. It can be hard to distinguish between the real and the fake, but there are covert and overt technologies built into these items by the rights holders to determine whether the items are real or not.
When we're getting calls now from RCMP officials seizing counterfeit goods, we provide one or two reasons why the items are counterfeit, why they weren't manufactured by the rights holder. That's what this is about, not about articles that went from one country to another country and into Canada at a lower price. That's legitimate. That's the grey market. That's real. That's not what is encompassed in this bill. We're talking about counterfeits and that's what needs to be stopped at the border.