Chinese customs tighten controls of World Cup counterfeits

HANGZHOU - Chinese customs have seized a large batch of sportswear with designs pirated from those for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

Customs in Ningbo, East China's Zhejiang province, announced on Monday seizure of 1,800 counterfeit soccer uniforms labeled FIFA as well as 14,844 pairs of sneakers with labels of FIFA's commercial sponsors of Adidas and Nike.

Customs have contacted FIFA for verification of the counterfeiting.

The customs in Yiwu city, also in Zhejiang, seized some 288 counterfeit match balls. The balls were without a brand, but were printed with patterns that resembled the official match ball for the World Cup and pictures of World Cup trophies and signs reading "Russia 2018".

Yiwu is known as the "world supermarket" for its wholesale goods. Customs inspectors in the city have carried out stringent inspections on piracy and organized anti-piracy public campaigns.

The Hangzhou customs in the provincial capital said it will impose fines on exporters.

Customs in China's major export-oriented production bases including Zhejiang, Guangdong and Hubei provinces have initiated a combat against World Cup counterfeiting since March. By Monday, the Hangzhou Customs has seized a total of 32,398 goods that have violated the World Cup intellectual property rights.