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

假冒商品贸易正在增长，并与跨国有组织犯罪（TOC）的活动有关。大量的工作和公众的监督检查了这些非法货物的流动。对促成这些举措的金融机制的审查较少。要从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。他们对资金的需求可能涉及非法供应的每一个"阶段"，从生产、运输到零售，无论规模大小。然而，虽然可能需要大量投资才能在批发一级进入特定的假冒伪劣产品市场，但在零售阶段的参与只需要少量资源;随着现代信息和通信技术以及电子商务的发展，这一过程对犯罪企业家来说已经简化。对电子商务的挪用可能会产生规模效应，使“小”商人能够在全球范围内开展活动。网络空间假冒贸易的发展意义重大。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。此外，还普遍缺乏关于跨国公司与合法行为者混淆的信息，这一点在假冒商品灰色市场中尤为明显。本项目将解决这些问题。该研究利用社会科学（犯罪学和社会学）和人文科学（法律和地理）的跨学科研究专长，并与国家贸易标准电子犯罪小组（NSeCT）的从业人员合作，旨在调查假冒商品贸易的融资情况。该研究报告特别侧重于假冒伪劣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，它将通过检查跨境假冒贸易中的金融和实物流动，有助于我们对TOC的理解。在此背景下，中国作为全球经济中的主要制造业力量，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），是该项目的重点之一。为期12个月，这个探索性项目的主要目标是：1。查明用于假冒商品贸易的各种形式和资金来源。2.绘制与假冒产品贸易有关的跨国实物和资金流动图，特别关注英中两国。3.研究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中的作用。5.发展该小组的网络和专门知识，以丰富今后的研究，并在本探索性项目范围以外的更大范围内加强其对执法和监管政策及做法的贡献，本项目将开始为执法、监管机构和决策者建立一个重要的知识库。这将有助于就资源分配和打击伪造、犯罪融资和跨国有组织犯罪的措施作出知情决策。此外，该项目将建立一个跨学科和跨部门的假冒研究网络，这是一种研究假冒的创新方法，并为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.