The Croatian Foreign Ministry on Saturday welcomed the Netherlands' decision to lift restrictions on Croatian workers.

EUIPO has been conducting research work for the past 5 years and has now released a single report on the contribution of intellectual property to the EU economy and the cost of counterfeiting and piracy to international trade.

The 13 sectors studied are: cosmetics and personal care; clothing, footwear and accessories; sports goods; toys and games; jewellery and watches; handbags and luggage, recorded music; spirits and wine; pharmaceuticals; pesticides; smartphones; batteries and tyres.

The latest figures show that the direct annual losses incurred by those sectors as a result of the presence of fake products in the marketplace amount to EUR 60 billion – equal to 7.5 % of their sales in the EU.

Furthermore, because legitimate manufacturers produce less than they would in the absence of counterfeiting, and consequently employ fewer workers, 434 000 jobs are also directly lost in these sectors. The data indicates that losses in Croatia in these 13 sectors amounts to 398 million euro a year or 94 euro per capita.

The greatest losses in Croatia were recorded in the pharmaceuticals (136 mn euro) sector due to piracy or 11.7% of direct sales and in the clothing sector (129 mn euro or 14.3%). This is followed by losses related to smartphones (45 mn euro or 15%of direct sales); cosmetics (35 mn euro or 12.4%); and spirits and wines (22 mn euro or 10.7%). As a result of counterfeiting in these 13 sectors, Croatia has lost 3,981 jobs, the report notes.