The battle against fake goods, long neglected because it was considered politically unprofitable in France, is now benefiting from a swathe of parliamentary initiatives. This is being fuelled by political calculations but also, and above all, the realisation that for the first time major counterfeiting networks are being set up in France.
The alert has not yet been made public but it is spreading through the upper echelons of the directorate-general of customs at the Porte de Montreuil district of Paris. Several investigators have reported to their superiors there that French counterfeiting networks are being developed,