Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent discussions he has had with (a) online retailers and (b) online retailing platforms on preventing the sale of counterfeit products.

The Government takes the protection of intellectual property seriously and supports a range of initiatives designed to reduce this illicit trade.

Officials from the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) have been holding roundtable meetings with representatives from online platforms and rights holders to discuss the availability of counterfeits on their platforms and to help co-ordinate law enforcement action against sellers.

In September 2013, we launched a dedicated Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU), run by the City of London Police. It is dedicated to tackling serious and organised online piracy and counterfeiting (affecting digital and physical goods) and protecting legitimate UK businesses. IPO provided funding of around £9 million over the period 2013-2019.