Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the IP Crime Group’s finding in its IP Crime and Enforcement Report that cigarettes and tobacco products were the most reported counterfeit goods in the UK in 2019-20.
The IP Crime Report highlights that cigarettes and tobacco products were the products most investigated by Trading Standards in 2019-20. However, the IP Crime Report does highlight many operational successes by Trading Standards in removing illicit cigarettes and tobacco products from sale. The Intellectual Property Office also carried out a significant number of investigations into illicit cigarettes and tobacco products.