The results of French customs stand at historic levels in 2022, after a year 2021 already marked by record seizures, particularly in the counterfeiting and tobacco trafficking sectors, according to a report published Thursday, February 23.
The fight against counterfeits reflects a doubling of the volumes seized in two years: 11.53 million counterfeit items were intercepted in 2022, compared to 9.1 million in 2021 (+27%) and 5.6 million in 2020.
59.2% more seizures
"
Among the items seized, 5.8 million toys and games, 778,000 body care products, 479,000 clothing and accessories, 374,000 drinks and foodstuffs,
" said the Ministry of Public Accounts, on which customs depend, in a press release.
In the fight against tobacco smuggling, customs seizures reached a new record last year with 640.1 tonnes of tobacco and cigarettes seized, compared to 402 tonnes in 2021 (+59.2%), with the dismantling of several clandestine tobacco factories on the national territory.
“
A 2023-2025 action plan has already been put in place to further strengthen the mobilization of customs services in the fight against this trafficking and to counter trafficking which is diversifying and becoming structured like the narcotics
,” the ministry said in its statement.
Read alsoSmuggling: the incredible crackdown by French customs
While drug seizures fell slightly last year, they remain at a fairly high level: 104.53 tons of drugs (115.4 tons last year) for an illicit resale value estimated at more than 1.041 billion euros, i.e. 80% of the quantities seized on national territory by all law enforcement agencies.
This represents 18.3 tonnes of cocaine (18.62 tonnes in 2021).
The year 2022 was marked by a further increase in seizures of criminal assets with 175.5 million euros intercepted or seized by judicial customs officers, compared to 125.1 million in 2021 (+40%).
The fight against tax, social security and customs fraud accounted for 30% of Tracfin's activity in 2022, or 1.5 billion euros.
Bercy's financial intelligence unit monitors the emergence and evolution of new fraud schemes, such as those related to crypto-assets, in particular the non-declaration or reduction of capital gains resulting from the sale of non-fungible tokens (NFT in English), or even fraud in state aid schemes such as the personal training account (CPF).
