The Financial Aspects of the Trade in Counterfeit Products: An Exploratory Study

假货贸易正在增长，并与跨国有组织犯罪(TOC)的活动有关。许多工作和广泛的审查已经审查了这些非法商品的流动。较少受到审查的是使它们成为可能的金融机制。要在批发层面进入这个犯罪市场，“有组织犯罪分子”可能需要大量的财政资源，从信贷安排到处理国际交易。它们对融资的需求可能涉及非法供应的每一个“阶段”，从生产、航运到零售，无论规模是小是大。然而，虽然在批发一级进入某一特定假冒市场可能需要大量投资，但在零售阶段的参与只需要少量资源；对于犯罪企业家来说，这一过程已被简化，因为现代信息和通信技术以及电子商务已随着时间和空间的发展而发展。对电子商务的侵占可能会产生规模效应，允许“小”贸易商在全球范围内开展业务。网络空间假冒交易的发展意义重大。然而，人们对数字技术如何为假冒商品融资提供便利知之甚少。还普遍缺乏关于将TOC混淆为合法行为者的信息，这在假冒商品灰色市场的背景下尤为明显。这个项目将解决这些问题。这项研究利用社会科学(犯罪学和社会学)、人文科学(法律和地理)的跨学科研究专门知识，并与国家贸易标准电子犯罪小组的从业人员合作，试图调查假冒商品贸易的融资情况。该研究特别侧重于材料假冒商品非法市场的融资和与融资有关的方面。此外，在关注英国背景的同时，它将通过研究跨境假冒贸易中的资金和实物流动，有助于我们对TOC的理解。在此背景下，中国，全球经济中占主导地位的制造业力量，拥有先进的出口基础设施(见知识产权局和外交和联邦事务部，2015年)，是该项目的一部分。这一试探性项目为期12个月，主要目标是：1.确定用于假冒商品贸易的各种融资形式和来源。2.绘制与假冒产品贸易有关的跨国实物和资金流动图，特别是英国和中国。审查互联网和电子商务如何为造假者提供金融机会，并探索这些在线过程如何与假冒产品的物质贸易相互作用。考虑合法金融和商业结构在假冒产品非法贸易方面的作用。发展团队的网络和专业知识，以丰富未来的研究，并加强他们对执法和监管政策的贡献，以及超出本探索性项目范围的更大规模的实践。该项目将开始为执法部门、监管机构和政策制定者发展重要的知识库。这将有助于在资源分配和打击制假、犯罪融资和跨国有组织犯罪的措施方面做出明智的决策。此外，该项目将建立一个跨学科、跨行业的造假研究网络，一种研究造假的创新方法，更广泛地为TOC知识库做出重要贡献。

The trade in counterfeit goods is growing and has been linked to the operations of transnational organised crime (TOC). Much work and popular scrutiny has examined these flows of illicit goods. Less scrutinised are the financial mechanisms that enable them. To enter this criminal market at the wholesale level, 'organised criminals' may need significant financial resources, from credit facilities to processing international transactions. Their need for financing can concern every 'stage' of illicit supply, from production, shipping, to retail, be that small or large scale. However, while large sums of investment may be needed to enter a specific counterfeit market at the wholesale level, participation at the retail stage requires only modest resources; a process that has been simplified for criminal entrepreneurs as late-modern information and communication technologies (ICTs) and electronic commerce have developed over time and space. The appropriation of e-commerce could have a scaling effect allowing 'petty' traders to act globally. The development of the counterfeit trade in cyber-space is significant. Yet little is known about how the financing of counterfeit goods is facilitated by digital technologies. There is also a general lack of information on the blurring of TOC into legitimate actors, which is particularly apparent in the context of the grey market in counterfeit goods. This project will address these issues. Drawing upon cross-disciplinary research expertise in social sciences (criminology and sociology) the humanities (law and geography), and working in collaboration with practitioners from the National Trading Standards e-Crime Team (NSeCT), the research seeks to investigate the financing of the trade in counterfeit goods. The study focuses specifically on financing and financing-related aspects of illicit markets in material counterfeit goods. Furthermore, while focusing on the UK context, it will contribute to our understanding of TOC by examining financial and physical flows in the counterfeit trade over borders. In this context, China, the dominant manufacturing force in the global economy with an advanced export infrastructure (see Intellectual Property Office and Foreign & Commonwealth Office, 2015), is part of the focus of this project. Lasting for twelve months, this exploratory project's key objectives are to:1. Identify the various forms and sources of financing that are being used to trade in counterfeit goods. 2. Map the transnational physical and financial flows relating to the trade in counterfeit products, focusing in particular on UK-China.3. Examine how the Internet and electronic commerce presents financial opportunities for counterfeiters and to explore how these online processes interact with the material trade in counterfeit products.4. Consider the role of licit financial and business structures in relation to the illicit trade in counterfeit products.5. Develop the team's network and expertise in a way that will enrich future research and enhance their contribution to enforcement and regulatory policy and practice on a larger scale beyond the scope of this exploratory project.The project will begin to develop an important knowledge base for law enforcement, regulatory agencies and policy makers. This will support informed decision making about resource allocation and measures to tackle counterfeiting, criminal financing and transnational organised crime. In addition, the project will establish a cross-disciplinary and cross-sector counterfeiting research network, an innovative methodology to research counterfeiting, and more generally provide an important contribution to the TOC knowledge base.