The “System of Alerts” belongs to the Trademark Fraud Division and it effectively protects duly registered trademarks.
The System has proved to be a successful way of stopping the relentless entrance of forged goods, thanks to the fluent communication between the Trademark Fraud Division and the local lawyers that protect trademark owners.
How to protect your trademarks at Customs
In order to benefit from this “System of Alerts”, it is necessary to record all registered trademarks that may be subject to forgery or parallel imports by unauthorized distributors.
STEP BY STEP
The application must be filed with Trademark Fraud Division and it does not carry any official fees. In order for the application to succeed, the registered trademark certificate must be submitted, together with information about the trademark owner –whether a natural or legal person-, which data is available in our databases. In addition, all authorized importers and exporters must be listed, the relevant tariff classification codes must be stated, and the most frequent ports and airports of entry and exit of the goods that may be subject to forgery must be on record.
Furthermore, the Trademark Fraud Division may require samples of the goods or a guide on how to recognize forged goods –which are generally provided by the trademark owners- in order to identify more easily any counterfeit goods.
Once the trademark is recorded in the System of Alerts, it will remain in force for 2 years, and such term may be renewed for similar periods of time. The renewal requirements do not differ from the recordation ones.