Yes, I do. I realize that my colleagues from the RCMP and the Department of Justice have already made remarks with respect to border enforcement, so I will keep my introduction brief.
I do thank you for the opportunity to present on the manner in which the Canada Border Services Agency currently helps to combat the proliferation of counterfeit and pirated goods. As previously mentioned, the first is via a civil remedy. Both the Copyright Act and the Trade-marks Act permit a rights holder to obtain a court order directing the CBSA to detect and detain shipments of goods that are suspected of violating their intellectual property rights.
Additionally, the CBSA may detain IPR-infringing goods pursuant to the criminal process. The Copyright Act provides for criminal sanctions, as does the Criminal Code.
When the RCMP shares intelligence regarding importations that would be evidence of a criminal offence, the CBSA will create a system lookout for the goods. When the shipment is intercepted, the CBSA will seize the goods as evidence and transfer the goods to the RCMP, who will proceed with prosecution.
Finally, if the CBSA, in the course of examining a shipment for the purposes of administering the Customs Act, consequentially finds goods that may be infringing intellectual property rights, we will ask the RCMP if the shipment meets prosecution criteria, and if so, the goods will be seized as evidence.
It is not practical, however, for the RCMP to pursue criminal charges for every suspected violation of IPR-infringing goods. When the shipment is not significant enough to warrant criminal action, the importer is advised of the suspected authenticity of the goods and in these instances will often choose to abandon the shipment.
This brings us to one of our challenges as an agency. The Customs Act permits CBSA to detain goods that are prohibited, controlled, or regulated by any act of Parliament until they are satisfied they are dealt with in accordance with the applicable act. Currently, however, there is no legislation that specifically identifies counterfeit goods themselves as prohibited, controlled, or regulated.
Under the Copyright Act the goods themselves are not prohibited. Rather, there are offences against a person who knowingly makes, sells, or imports for sale counterfeit goods. The Trade-marks Act is also silent. As there is no ancillary legislation defining counterfeit goods as prohibited, they cannot be targeted or detained by the CBSA under the authority of the Customs Act.
As you've heard, however, the CBSA is working with the interdepartmental partners to explore options that will address the growing concerns over the risk of unsafe counterfeit products, loss of revenue, and involvement of organized crime.
Thank you very much, and I look forward to your questions.