Institutional portal - Municipality of Milan

The Committee is made up of both public bodies and private entities, including:

• Court of Milan;
• Public Prosecutor's Office at the Court of Milan;
• Financial Police – Milan Provincial Command;
• Customs agency and monopolies;
• Carabinieri – Milan Group Command;
• State Police - Milan Police Headquarters;
• Postal Police – Milan Department;
• Fraud Repression Inspectorate – ICRF Lombardy;
• The municipality of Milan;
• Lombardy region;
• Ministry of Economic Development, Labor and Social Policies;
• Unioncamere;
• Assolombarda Milan, Lodi, Monza and Brianza;
• Milan Bar Association;
• Grande Milano Study Center;
• University of Milan;
• Politecnico di Milano;

The Municipal Administration of Milan is extremely sensitive to the issue of anti-counterfeiting and promotes, together with the Ministry of Economic Development, the National Association of Italian Municipalities (ANCI), Confcommercio Milan, Federmodaitalia Milan, the Chamber of Commerce, the Customs Agency and Indicam (Centromarca Institute for the fight against counterfeiting) training campaigns on legality, aimed at informing and raising citizens' awareness of the negative effects produced by illegal commercial practices from an economic, social and health point of view. Counterfeiting has a market value of 7 billion and 208 million euros, takes away 104.000 jobs from regular employment and entails huge losses for the state budget in terms of lost tax revenues worth 5 billion and 935 million EUR. Counterfeiting represents a serious form of unfair competition by organized crime.

The project includes educational interventions for consumers, initiatives aimed at repressing producers and distributors of counterfeit items and the strengthening of controls by the Local Police of Milan.
The counterfeit product is by definition dangerous as it is manufactured and distributed in violation of legal regulations. Counterfeiters have no interest in complying with safety and health requirements, but on the contrary, to increase their illicit profits, they create products with poor and uncontrolled raw materials, using chemical substances that are potentially dangerous for the health and safety of people.
Buyers of counterfeit goods are attracted by the low selling price and therefore, believing they are getting a good deal, choose unofficial and unsafe sales channels. The low selling price is correlated with the terrible quality of the product.
Acting on consumer purchasing behavior constitutes an important key to weakening demand and effectively combating illegal commercial activity, since the repression activity alone, although fundamental, risks proving futile.

The Anti-Counterfeiting Operational Group (GOAC) of the local police of Milan, from September 2018 to today, has carried out over 9.200 checks, ascertaining 3.400 violations, identifying various places of sale and storage, reporting 350 people and seizing over 1,3 million counterfeit objects: bags, belts, shoes, wallets, glasses, costume jewellery, cosmetics, perfumes, drugs and toys. A work carried out to protect legality, against unfair competition and to safeguard the health of citizens, since counterfeit goods often contain chemical substances and dyes that can be harmful. 
The "Anti-counterfeiting Gazebo" project of the Local Police is part of this perspective, aimed at consumers to increase their awareness of the dangers of using counterfeit products and the negative effects on the legal economy.
During these events, Local Police, Chamber of Commerce and trade associations, through the exhibition of counterfeit products and the distribution of information leaflets, discuss with citizens the topic of commercial illegality, explaining the serious risks associated with purchase of counterfeit goods and at the same time providing visitors with useful information to distinguish a counterfeit product from an original one.

The final objective is to implement a set of actions, from repressive and investigative to that of promoting a culture of legality, which create an overall unfavorable context for the phenomenon of counterfeiting with the possibility of involving the Local Police and the Municipalities of the province of Milan, especially in training and operational activities.