The Chinese authority and the international community would exert great efforts to ensure the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games free of counterfeit goods, and thus making it a "clean" one, said WCO Secretary General Michel Danet in Lyon of France Tuesday.
In an exclusive interview with Xinhua, Danet said China has striven to combat counterfeiting and the World Customs Organization (WCO) has the responsibility to help China in its move to make Beijing Olympics "clean".
"We can help, (and) we can pave the way to make Beijing Olympic clean," said Danet.
Danet came to Lyon to host the second global congress on combating counterfeiting and piracy together with the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol), in which Danet spoke highly of the cooperation between China and the WCO.
The meeting has attracted over 500 governmental officials, business leaders and experts from 66 countries and several international organizations concerned.
In the middle of next month, Danet will visit China, aiming to deepen the cooperation with the Chinese side, especially on "clean Olympics".
"We will make our successful cooperation on Olympics as a tool to demonstrate our good relations," said Danet, who has chaired the WCO for 8 years.
According to Danet, hosting the Olympics is a great event in China, and it will promote China's image in politics, economy, culture and sports at the international arena.
However, he said it was reported that some Olympic-related fake goods had been sold in the market, and if such practice became rampant in the Chinese and international market, it would severely damage the Beijing Olympic itself and China's image at large.
The counterfeiting of Olympic-related goods has drawn attention from the Chinese government and the WCO. Danet said he would discuss with the Chinese officials on measures fighting the counterfeiting.
"During the 2008 Olympics, Beijing should not be like certain foreign cities, that's to say, we shall not see vendors selling fake products near the stadiums and swimming pools," he said.
"Beijing Olympics village should be clean," he stressed.
He said there is 3 years left for preparing the event and the Chinese government should do necessary work from now on to prevent counterfeiting.
As for Xinhua's question of "how to make it clean", Danet said the top priority is to increase the capacity of the staff members from China's law enforcement bodies and customs, and enhancing international cooperation is an "effective means" to promote the capacity.
"The Chinese government has shown its commitment in fighting counterfeiting, and it has increased the transparency and capacity," said Danet, adding that that has laid down a solid foundation for cooperation.
However, the WCO has quite a lot of experience in fighting counterfeiting, and it can send experts to train Chinese personnel, he said.
He proposed that it would be better for the Chinese government to block the counterfeit products at the customs before they are exported. adding that the Chinese customs should conducted more active information exchange with the WCO and the customs of other countries on counterfeiting.
The Chinese government has realized the severe damage of counterfeiting and it has been determined to crack such practice, said Danet.
He said China's determination on combating counterfeiting would become firmer as more and more Chinese companies have increased their awareness to protect their own intellectual property rights.
"As soon as those companies benefit from innovation, they would never tolerate counterfeiting," he said.
"I don't know whether counterfeiting would disappear in China or not, but I do know counterfeiting would become less and less in the future, " Danet added.
(Xinhua News Agency November 16, 2005)
