Alicante: Counterfeit goods seizures in the European Union reached an all-time high in 2025, with EU authorities taking more than 175 million fake products worth 4.6 billion euros, according to a joint report on intellectual property enforcement published by the EU Intellectual Property Office, known as EUIPO.

The result reverses the downward trend of 2024 and surpasses the previous record set in 2023. Put plainly, enforcement teams caught more fake goods in 2025 than in the record year before it.

Recorded CDs and DVDs were again the most frequently seized goods in the internal market, for the second year running. Demand for copyright-infringing music, films and games drives that trade, even though streaming has changed how most people consume media.

The ranking shows how old habits persist. Physical discs may feel like a relic, yet counterfeit goods seizures still count them first among goods moving inside the single market, which tells enforcers that piracy of entertainment has not disappeared.

Labels, tags and stickers climbed to third place. Counterfeiters use these items to assemble fakes after the parts enter the Union, and the report points to their potential multiplier effect within the EU. A single seizure of labels can stand for a much larger volume of finished fakes that never reach an inspector.

The report names several pressures on enforcers. Varied transport routes, fragmented supply chains, resource-intensive inspections and rapid e-commerce growth all make illicit goods harder to detect. Counterfeit goods seizures therefore reflect both the size of the trade and the effort authorities invest in catching it.

Resource limits deserve attention. Each inspection takes staff time, and growing parcel volumes mean that counterfeit goods seizures depend on how well risk analysis picks the right package out of millions.

Joint operations by police and market surveillance authorities show what coordinated action can achieve. EUIPO calls for new proactive approaches and for closer involvement of transport operators and online platforms, which handle goods at points where enforcers cannot always look.

For consumers, the numbers matter beyond brand protection. Fake goods can carry safety risks, and a market that rewards counterfeiters also drains revenue from legitimate producers who pay taxes and employ workers. The record seizure value shows how much money flows through this trade each year.

The published summary does not break down the 2025 figures by country. The next test is whether member states publish their own data, so that the pattern behind the record counterfeit goods seizures becomes visible at national level and not only in the EU total.