Counterfeit goods seized in Italy: over 5 million items in 2025, toys top the list

WEDNESDAY, 21 OCTOBER 2026

Italian customs stopped more than 5 million fakes in 2025 and over 730,000 in the first half of 2026: sea containers remain the main channel and toys the most affected category. What to check before ordering.

Counterfeit goods seized in Italy passed 5 million items in 2025, according to the Italian Customs and Monopolies Agency, with another 730,000 in the first half of 2026. Container shipping remains the main entry channel, and toys, games and sporting goods are the most affected category.

The customs conference on the National Anti-Fraud Network

The figures were presented in Rome on 20 October at the conference "Fighting counterfeiting: ADM's National Anti-Fraud Network", held during the Anti-Counterfeiting Week promoted by the Ministry of Enterprises and Made in Italy. The Network coordinates the Agency's central and local offices with the police, other administrations and European partners: the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), the anti-fraud office OLAF and Europol.

The Agency's director, Roberto Alesse, said a fake product distorts competition and puts consumers at risk, because it does not meet safety standards. The response he outlined combines prevention, targeted customs checks, laboratory analysis and data analysis systems. Anti-fraud director Sergio Gallo added that technology will play an increasingly decisive role, but will not replace the customs officer.

The seizure figures, in Italy and in the EU

• Counterfeit products seized by Italian customs in 2025: over 5 million items.
• Products seized in Italy in the first half of 2026: over 730,000 items.
• Counterfeit goods detained in the EU in 2024, at the external borders and in the internal market: about 112 million items, with an estimated value of 3.8 billion euros, the highest ever recorded.
• At the EU external borders alone in 2024: almost 20 million items, worth about 1.5 billion euros, the highest value in ten years.
• Countries of provenance in the EU in 2024: China first, then Türkiye and, for the first time in the top three, the United Arab Emirates.

The two Italian figures cannot be compared directly: one covers a full year, the other six months, and customs gave neither the value of the goods nor a breakdown by country of origin. The EU figures come from the annual report of the European Commission and EUIPO published on 1 October 2025.

How fakes get in: containers, luggage, e-commerce

Customs identify three channels. The first is commercial sea freight in containers, which moves large quantities in a single shipment. The second is passengers, who bring fake products back in their luggage. The third, and growing, is e-commerce: small quantities per shipment but a very large number of parcels, which makes checks harder.

By category, after toys, games and sporting goods come processed tobacco, clothing and accessories, then food, drinks and cosmetics. At EU level, toys are also among the most detained categories, together with games, recorded media, clothing, cosmetics and cigarettes.

Counterfeit goods seized: what it means for importers

The container figure directly concerns importers of legitimate goods, because fakes travel on the same routes and through the same ports. The numbers do not say how many regular shipments are stopped for checks, but they point to a context in which controls on high-risk categories, starting with toys, remain intense. A container holding items that carry someone else's trademark without authorisation can be held at customs at the request of the right holder, with longer clearance times and the risk that the goods are destroyed.

It is worth acting on three fronts before placing an order. The first is ownership: if a product carries a logo, a character or a design, you need the right holder's written licence or proof that the trademark is yours, not a generic statement from the supplier. The second is conformity: for toys, the CE marking and the technical file must match real laboratory tests, because a fake is often an unsafe product too. The third is traceability: invoices, packing lists and approved samples that link the incoming goods to an identified supplier make it faster to clear up a check.

Sellers of customised promotional items carry an extra risk: the printed logo belongs to the customer, and it should be checked that the customer really holds the rights before it goes into production.

A risk best managed at the factory

With over 5 million fake items stopped in a year and toys at the top of the list, the most useful check happens before the goods are loaded into the container. This is what La Merce does for companies importing from China: verifying the rights to trademarks and artwork, collecting test reports and inspecting production before shipment, so that the cargo reaches customs with its paperwork in order.

Let's talk about your productprojectconceptgoalbrandproductprojectconceptgoalbrandproductprojectconceptgoalbrandproduct